


Get Away

by glitterjungwoo



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sugar Daddy, Angst, CEO Doyoung, Dirty Talk, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Light Bondage, M/M, Minor Violence, Misunderstandings, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Other members mentioned in passing - Freeform, Praise Kink, third year college student Jungwoo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-14 00:23:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 33,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14124108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitterjungwoo/pseuds/glitterjungwoo
Summary: “You don’t need me to, I know that. But what is it that your heart wants Jungwoo?”What his heart wants? His heart wants to not have to go through this constant cycle of never having enough money, barely making ends meet, working tirelessly and never catching a break. His heart just wants some peace of mind, some time to breathe.“I just want to feel safe again.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> enjoy the first chapter of this fanfic that I partially wrote in class with my laptop screen brightness at the lowest it can get :)
> 
> I already have the second chapter of this ready so it'll be up within the next few days. 
> 
> This fanfic will not be too angsty because although I love some drama I'm also very soft and I need fluff okay. That doesn't say that the angst I do include won't be slightly painful, nothing the boys can't work out though. :)

The business card with the name and number of the man who could come to be his savior or his cause of his demise was being flipped over in his hand. Will he regret making this call? Is this all a scam? Something too good to be true?

He didn’t want Mark to pay more again in order to cover his part of the rent, although he would be understanding, he couldn’t live with himself by admitting that he lost this time.

He types in the number into his phone.

Ring, ring, ring

“This is Kim Dong Young of NCT Co., who am I speaking to?”

He took a deep breath.

“It’s Jungwoo”

*****

Jungwoo figured that today was not his day when he missed the bus and had to practically run all the way to the lecture hall on campus that has holding the event he would present his research at.

Lucas always loses his keys at the most inconvenient moment. (They were in the pocket of the jeans that he wore yesterday.)

He wasn’t presenting until towards the end of the presentation, but he still felt terrible about arriving late. Jungwoo did not want to make a bad impression amongst the number of prestigious people that would be attending. This could have some potential for future opportunities and he could not fuck this up by getting there late. 

His shoes hurt, he was sweaty from practically running across town, and god knows how much of a mess his hair must look after spending twenty minutes making sure it was presentable. The universe was definitely conspiring against him today. Jungwoo checked his phone, I still have 5 minutes I can make it in time, right?, he told himself that as he ran through the entrance of the university and towards the building where the lecture hall was located. The people that Jungwoo passed by gave him weird looks but he could care less about that right now as he bolted towards the door and made his way in, with 2 minutes to spare.

Lucas is spared for today.

Jungwoo entered the back entrance of the lecture hall to check in and make sure for the fiftieth time that his presentation was spot on, he could not afford to pronounce organism as “orgasm” in a room of 100 men in their fifties. He couldn’t be a college dropout.

His phone chimed and he saw a few messages from Mark wishing him good luck and that he’ll be making his favorite meal for dinner that night to celebrate. 

Mark really was a good housemate, he always made sure to take care of him and Lucas. Lucas was, well, he’s been one of his closest friends since forever, but he tended to wreak havoc whenever Jungwoo was already stressed out about other things.

Other than his closest friends, no one else really contacted him. His parents were completely out of the picture after cutting Jungwoo off completely when he came out to him during his first year. Now he’s in his third year, surprised that he’s managed to survive this long without their help. It’s been really hard, if it weren’t for Mark and Lucas, Jungwoo was sure that he would’ve ended up on the streets within month. With constantly working in order to just barely come up with his share of the rent and studying his ass off in order to keep his scholarships, he still held resentment against his parents. Being angry about it was easier than being sad about the fact that they could easily abandon their son they claimed to love no matter what. He tried not to think about it when he realized this morning that the recent cut on his work hours put him several dollars short of his share of the rent. Jungwoo knew that Mark would be more than happy to cover it, but that doesn’t mean that Jungwoo would feel happy about it. He didn’t want to burden Mark like that, he was just as busy as he was. Jungwoo didn’t want to admit that he couldn’t do this, he wanted to prove something to himself. He didn’t need his parents, he could do this on his own.

Sometimes his stubbornness really made things more difficult for himself.

Jungwoo was taken out of his mental tangent by his professor tapping on his shoulder and telling him that he would be up in about 5 minutes.

Here I go. 

*****

Kim Dongyoung did NOT want to be here on his day off. He could’ve slept in for once, but he owed Taeyong a favor so here he was at his old university sitting in some lecture hall waiting for some presentation to start.

“Taeyong, tell me again how me coming to this event equates me asking you to watch my nephew for a few hours? If I recall, you actually enjoyed it.”

“Are you telling me you’re not enjoying yourself? I’m hurt Dongyoung!” Dongyoung isn't looking at Taeyong but he already knows that he’s pouting.”I’ve touched 3 pieces of gum that have been stuck under the armrest of this chair do these students not understand the concept of trash cans?”

Taeyong laughs and Dongyoung lightly smacks his best friend on his arm, he's used to his antics by now. The only reason he hasn’t made a run for the door was because Taeyong promised him lunch if he sat through the whole presentation. 

Dongyoung spoke up again, “tell me why you needed a plus one to this again? It seems kind of unnecessary”

“Oh, about that.”

Taeyong’s lucky that he’s buying them lunch, or else Dongyoung would’ve really smacked him right now.

“I didn't really need a plus one, i just didn’t want to sit through this thing alone and messing with you is the kind of entertainment that’ll do for me to be able to get through this presentation!”

Dongyoung groaned and put his head in his hands.

This was going to be the longest hour and a half of his life.

The lights in the lecture hall dimmed a bit as the projector started rolling and the host of the event began his introduction. Dongyoung immediately tuned out the monotone voice of the speaker and thought about his work schedule for the next week. Today was Friday, his first day off in weeks. Saturday was met with contacting that irritating company that hadn’t upheld their side of the deal. That would be the absolute highlight of his day. Sunday would be a repeat of Saturday if these people failed to comply. Working with these people has been such a pain in his ass from the start. Maybe he could get a head start on some of the work he set aside for Monday so he wouldn’t have to stay late into the night…

“And now we have one of our own students, third year Kim Jungwoo, presenting his research on the topic of biodiversity that he worked on with his professor ”

Dongyoung looks up to see what type of student was chosen to add to his misfortune of being in that lecture hall for an hour and a half.

He choked on whatever complaint was about to crawl out of his throat.

Kim Jungwoo walked across the from of the room with such elegance, there’s no way that HE is a college student. His features were soft and his eyes shone brightly as he smiled at the people in the room. His smile, it put the sun to shame. Suddenly Dongyoung felt the urge to pay attention to this presentation as if his life depended on it. Taeyong noticed they way that he straightened up in his seat and he failed to suppress a giggle. Great, something for him to tease Dongyoung about during their lunch. Jungwoo began speaking and Dongyoung could not believe how gentle his voice was. He could listen to Jungwoo talk for hours. He tried to get a hold of himself, he could not get worked up over someone ten years younger than him. Dongyoung really needs to go out more, if only he didn’t feel the need to overwork himself every day. 

He kept his eyes fixated on Jungwoo, the way he sounded confident about his presentation, the little jokes he threw in to keep the audience engaged. He was just so bright and charismatic, who wouldn’t become infatuated with him? 

As Jungwoo began to close up his presentation, Dongyoung began to wonder if he would ever be able to see him again. He had to find a way to make an impression on him, make Jungwoo think of him. The slideshow ended and Jungwoo bowed to the audience and made his way back to where he had come in from.

“Are you still mad at me for making you come here?” Taeyong’s teasing voice interrupted his train of thought.

“Fuck you Taeyong”

Not really though.

*****

Jungwoo was proud of his presentation, and even prouder that he didn’t make any embarrassing mistakes while he was up there. Maybe the universe would be kind to him now. He received a pat on the back from his professor who congratulated him on doing a great job. All the work and endless hours of research payed off greatly.

Now he just had to bid a few farewells to some of the guests that viewed the presentation in order to give them one last good impression.

A lot of the guests were previous students and donors to the university, so he had to represent his professor well. He shook hands with several guests, got a few kisses (and semi-painful pinches) on the cheek from the women that attended the event and said that he was “oh so cute!” and he simply gave them another warm smile. Anything to please them, he got a lot of positive feedback on his presentation that made him feel over the moon.

And then he saw him.

“Hello I’m Lee Taeyong and this is my good friend Kim Dongyoung, you did really well with your presentation and my friend here especially enjoyed it”

Jungwoo shifted his eyes to who he assumed was Kim Dongyoung and kindly smiled at him. There was something in his eyes that he couldn’t quite pick up, but he didn’t think much of it. Taeyong shook his hand enthusiastically and smiled so wide that his eyes crinkled up. Jungwoo then offered his hand out to Dongyoung.

Instead of going directly for his hands, Doyoung stroked the inside of Jungwoo’s wrist before finally settling with a gentle handshake. Jungwoo felt the hairs along his neck stand up is Dongyoung’s touch gave him shivers down his spine.

Who was this man and what is he thinking right now?

Taeyong was called over by a friend and left them as quickly as he arrived. Jungwoo could feel the air between him and dongyoung thicken with anticipation. He found himself at a loss for words for the first time that morning.

“You really did carry yourself well, im impressed” were the words that finally came out of Dongyoung’s mouth.

“Oh thank you very much I’m glad that you enjoyed my presentation! This morning was a bit of a nightmare so I’m glad that this was something that actually turned out well” Jungwoo questioned why he felt comfortable oversharing with this man, he probably didn’t even care what Jungwoo had to struggle with at the moment.

“Well you were so confident I would have never even assumed that you were a bit on edge, is everything okay now?”

Wait, he was actually interested? In his life? This could not be real.

“I mean, not really but I don’t want to burden you with the details of my current dilemma you look like you have enough on your plate already” Jungwoo replied, wondering if this would officially turn off the man for good.

“Who says you are a burden? Sometimes it’s good to talk about our problems, bottling everything up all the time can be dangerous for someone as young as you.”

Jungwoo felt slightly irritated, “I can take care of myself just fine, I don’t need another adult telling me im not capable of something in my life.” He cursed himself for his voice wavering towards the end of his sentence. He could not break in front of this prestigious looking man. Not now. Maybe until he gets home and he can cry into the meal that Mark will have prepared for them that night, but not now. He looked down at his hands and hoped that he wouldn’t blow up in front of dongyoung.

A hand made its way onto his shoulder and he looked up to see Dongyoung looking at him with concern, “I never said that you weren’t capable of taking care of yourself. In fact, i think that you are more than capable to. I may have only seen you today in a period of a few minutes, but you seem to be intelligent. You wouldn’t be chosen for this presentation if you weren’t capable of giving a solid performance-hey please don’t cry did I say something wrong?”

“How can someone who can’t even come up with half of his share for the rent be capable of taking care of himself, huh? I can’t even make my parents proud of me, all because they can’t handle that their son doesn’t happen to like girls all that much. I can’t even show up to my own presentation on time, i missed my bus and had to run all over town just to come in within minutes of this whole thing starting. So tell me how could i be capable of anything?”

Jungwoo couldn’t hold back his tears anymore. Well there goes Dongyoung’s impression of him. The universe was back to screwing him over in the most inconvenient situations. He would be more than grateful if the floor just opened up and swallowed him right now. 

Dongyoung lets go of his shoulder and motions for him to follow him to a more secluded area. He’s thankful in that moment that he could read the situation and take him somewhere that no one else could see him going into an emotional breakdown. They approach a window spanning from the floor to the ceiling, overlooking a tree that's starting to shift into the colors of fall. 

Dongyoung speaks again, “take a few deep breaths for me, okay? I didn’t mean to make you cry ike this, i'm sorry for bringing up all these emotions out of you. You’re okay. These small things in your life don’t define you as a whole. Your parents abandoning you is a mistake that they made, they’re missing out on a son who is obviously intelligent and hardworking that other parents would kill to have a son like you. You missed your bus? It happens to the best of us, kudos to you to still making it to your presentation i bet some would’ve given up completely. You can’t pay your share of the rent? Life happens, i don’t know your complete situation but all i can say is that life will happen and it's okay to admit that.”

Jungwoo was not expecting this at all. He was expecting a pat on the back and Dongyoung making the quickest escape to the nearest exit. He’s only known this man for 15 minutes and here he was getting a full on therapy session from him. He didn’t know whether to be grateful or continue to cry.

“Why do you care so much about me? Why didn’t you run away the minute i started crying? You don’t even know me.”

“I am human you know, believe it or not. I wouldn’t just abandon someone who clearly needs some comforting, also…”

Jungwoo noticed Dongyoung’s hesitation to finish his sentence, he’s already made a mess of himself so he couldn’t possibly embarrass himself more, “also what Dongyoung?”

“Call me crazy, but from the minute I saw you, I just knew that I had to make you remember me somehow. You fascinated me Jungwoo. When I leave and get back to my home, I’ll be thinking of you.”

What does one even say to such a bold statement. Dongyoung was just full of surprises. “You’re right you are crazy” Jungwoo said with a smile on his face.

“Finally,” Dongyoung said while looking softly at Jungwoo.

“Finally what?”

“You stopped crying, and you’re smiling again. I’m glad that I was able to do that much. You really do have a nice smile.” 

Jungwoo tried to fight the blush that threatened to make itself known on his cheeks. How is it that this man could affect him so much in so little time. 

“Also, let me take care of you Jungwoo.”

What.

Jungwoo was confused, “let you take care of me? I don’t understand what you mean by that.”

“How much do you need for this month’s rent?” Oh so this was what they were doing now.

“I can’t let you do that, I wouldn’t be able to pay you back for a while” 

Dongyoung stood his ground, “you don’t have to pay me back, I want to do this for you. Let me help you Jungwoo.”

Dongyoung reached into the inside pocket of his blazer, he took out a business card and gave it to Jungwoo. “My number is on here, whenever you need me just give me a call. If I’m not in the office Taeyong will answer, just tell him that it’s you and he’ll let me know.”

This feels wrong. Jungwoo doesn’t want to accept this, he doesn’t want to admit defeat; but here he was at his wits end and Dongyoung’s kind eyes seemed to make him reconsider his pride. 

“I’ll think about it. But that doesn’t mean that I’ll call.”

Dongyoung chuckled, “you can call me for whatever reason you like. It doesn’t just have to be about the money sweetheart.”

And here comes the pet names.  
“Are you trying to be my sugar daddy or something? Am I going to have to be some kind of escort for you?” Jungwoo could not believe what was happening to him right now. Is he really slightly considering this offer or is this all just some realistic dream he's having. 

“If you want to call it that then so be it. I just want to be of help to you, but you don’t have to feel obligated to. You are more than capable of making your own decisions.” A cell phone ringtone was heard and Dongyoung pulled out his phone to see who it was. “Taeyong must be looking for me now. It was nice meeting you Jungwoo. I hope that you enjoy the rest of your day, and remember if you ever need anything, even an answer to a random question that popped into your mind, feel free to call me okay?” Dongyoung gave him one last look before he left Jungwoo standing there dumbfounded.

 

*****

 

“I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon Jungwoo”

“Does your offer still stand?” 

“Of course Jungwoo, I’d be happy to help you at any time.”

Jungwoo let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding in. “okay. I have to pay my share in two days, I’ve managed to get a little over half-”

“Let me pay for it all”

Was this man for real? “No! Please let me put in some I can’t let you do that” 

Jungwoo, I’m the CEO of my own company. I’ll have enough money to last me two lifetimes. Let me help you, let me take care of you.”

“I don’t need to be taken care of!”

“You don’t need me to, I know that. But what is it that your heart wants Jungwoo?”

What his heart wants? His heart wants to not have to go through this constant cycle of never having enough money, barely making ends meet, working tirelessly and never catching a break. His heart just wants some peace of mind, some time to breathe.

“I just want to feel safe again.”

“I’ll have my driver pick you up tomorrow from your apartment. Wear something casual.”

“Okay Dongyoung.”

I’m going to take care of you, I’ll make sure that you feel safe. Just please let me in. Don’t shut me out okay?”

Jungwoo said goodbye and hung up the phone.

What is he getting himself into?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lunch date, a concerned Taeyong, a serious discussion about pictures of feet, and a heart to heart with Mark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A "couple of days" ended up just being one day anyways heres chapter two! I hope you enjoy it :)

Jungwoo walked into the kitchen of their shared apartment. After the dinner that Mark made them, he went into his room and finally caved. He called Dongyoung. He’s meeting with Dongyoung tomorrow. This can not be real. If you asked him a few years ago if he would ever result to becoming some kind of sugar baby for the CEO of one of the biggest corporations in town, he would’ve laughed right in your face. Look at him now, relying on Dongyoung in order to pay for rent. 

When he spotted Lucas washing the dishes he just went all out and announced, “Hey xuxi I may or may not have a sugar daddy now”

“That’s nice, can you pass me the pot that Mark left on the stove. My hands are all soapy and I don’t want to make a mess.”

Three.

Two.

One.

“WAIT”

The news finally sunk in.

“Jungwoo how did you get a sugar daddy? Where did you guys even meet? Who is he? Is he hot? Is he an old man? Jungwoo I didn’t know grey hair was a thing of yours-”

“Xuxi, first of all, no he’s not old he looks pretty young. Second of all, I don’t really know if he’s cute? I mean I cried for the most part when we met so I didn’t really have the time to see if he was hot or not. And finally, I met him at the presentation this morning.”

Lucas smirked at Jungwoo, “wow look at you, first you score the position in the presentation and you now come out of it with a sugar daddy, what did you do to get this kind of luck, tell me your secret.”

“I didn’t do anything. Apparently he thinks i'm cute or something? He kept mentioning how he likes my smile but I don’t know.”

Jungwoo didn’t know if he should drop the news onto Lucas now or later.

Fuck it, he’ll do it now.

“He’s offering to pay for my rent.”

At this Lucas’s expression softened. Jungwoo knew what was coming next.

“Jungwoo why didn’t you just tell us that you were having trouble with the rent. You know that Mark and I don’t mind helping you out, we understand what you’re going through.”

He felt really guilty for making Lucas worry about him like this. “You guys are always working so hard I don’t want to put more of a burden onto the both of you just because of this. I’ll be fine. It’ll probably be just this one time. I don’t want to bother Dongyoung much.”

Lucas forgot about his soapy hands when he slammed them onto Jungwoo’s shoulders, the water immediately soaking through the thin material of his shirt, “Did you just say Dongyoung? As in, Kim Dongyoung? The rich ass guy who owns that building downtown? Jungwoo how did you score this guy?”

Jungwoo laughed, “I’m telling you I cried in front of him for the most part, maybe that’s his kink or something. Also, you’re getting my shirt wet you know?”

Lucas quickly took his hands off of his shoulders and went to rinse and dry his hands for the time being.

“If he does something to hurt you or make you feel uncomfortable, me and Mark will kick his ass. I don’t care how much money he has.” Mark and Lucas were always protective of him, knowing his situation with his family and the list of issues he’s had to deal with in the past. He really did love them for this. There was no way that he could ever repay them for all their support.

“Don’t worry xuxi I believe you. Can you not tell Mark yet? He’s more protective and I don’t want him to freak out before I meet with Dongyoung.”

“Don’t tell Mark what”

Well shit. There goes his plans and this months rent.

Jungwoo wishes he never opened his mouth about this.

“It’s nothing Mark don’t worry about it.”

Mark gets closer to Jungwoo and doesn’t look like he’s ready to let this go anytime soon, “Jungwoo don’t try to lie to me, what are you planning on doing?”

Jungwoo looked down at his feet, unable to meet his eyes, “I met a man at the presentation today, Kim Dongyoung. He was there with his friend. Dongyoung’s offered to help me pay for my share of the rent this month.”

He heard Mark sigh heavily, “Jungwoo you know that I could’ve helped you-”

“Yes Mark I know you could’ve helped but you’ve been working so damn much with school and your job and you always come home looking more tired as the days go by. You barely have time to meet with Donghyuck and I can tell that you miss him. I don’t want to take that time away from the both of you. You deserve to have that time to yourselves and if I let you pay for me again I wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing that you’ll be even more tired because of me.” Jungwoo could feel the tears stinging his eyes. He’s already cried too much today.

Mark notices that Jungwoo’s eyes are getting glossy with tears and pulls him in for a hug. Although Mark was never one to be physically affectionate with anyone but Donghyuck, he always knew how to comfort them in his own way, “Jungwoo you always worry about us, why can’t you let us do the same for you? I’m not going to stop you from meeting with dongyoung if that’s what you really want. Just be careful okay? If he hurts you I’ll make sure that he regrets ever making you cry.”

Jungwoo leans his head down to rest on Mark’s shoulder. He can feel Lucas join in from the side, he always liked group hugs.

“We love you Jungwoo, don’t ever forget that” Lucas made sure to elongate the end of his name.

“I feel that if I ever forgot, the both of you would come back to haunt me.”

They continued hugging each other until Mark reminded Lucas that he still needed to finish washing the dishes to which Lucas pouted about until he was done. Jungwoo was happy but what he needed the most right now has a nice hot shower and to go to bed. All these emotions spilling out of him at once has him exhausted. 

Later at night when Lucas and Mark have gone to their rooms and fallen asleep, Jungwoo is still awake staring up at the ceiling. What would Dongyoung be like tomorrow? Would he be just as kind as he was when he met him? What would he wear? Jungwoo hoped that he didn’t show up underdressed because who knows where Dongyoung was planning to take him. He said to dress casual but do their definitions of casual match up? 

It was well past midnight before Jungwoo eventually fell asleep.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jungwoo was waiting in their living room for Dongyoung’s driver to show up. Mark and Lucas had left hours before to work. He would’ve been at work too, if they hadn’t cut his hours so much. Remodeling the cafe was seriously putting an economic strain on him. It was only for a few weeks, but he couldn’t help but feel stressed about money all the time.

Dongyoung’s voice telling him to let him take care of him kept coming into Jungwoo’s head. 

Well let’s see how well that’ll go. 

He saw the car that Dongyoung described this morning when they talked on the phone again park in front of the apartment complex. Dongyoung sounded a bit stressed, but Jungwoo expected it considering he was the CEO. Jungwoo inspected his outfit for the last time, he decided to go with black skinny jeans and a navy blue sweater. He hoped that this was casual but also nice enough just in case Dongyoung took him to some high scale restaurant so he wouldn’t stick out too badly. Jungwoo got into the car and gave a quiet hello to the driver before they set off for whatever Dongyoung had planned for him.

Jungwoo found himself dozing off, he was unable to get much sleep last night so he couldn’t help it when he eventually fell asleep and had to be gently woken up by the driver when they arrived.

He relaxed when he saw that he had arrived at small family owned restaurant, he had been here in the past with Mark and Lucas when their days off lined up. He walked in and the hostess asked for his name and he was soon taken to the table where Dongyoung was waiting for him.

When Dongyoung noticed them walking up to the table he smiled widely and walked up to Jungwoo, gently taking his forearm into his hand and looking at him, “Jungwoo, I’m glad to see you again.”

Jungwoo felt slightly embarrassed by Dongyoungs enthusiasm, “we just saw each other yesterday, you act as if it’s been weeks since we’ve seen each other.”

“I can’t help myself, you’re just so precious. I kept thinking of you the rest of the day.”

Jungwoo couldn’t lie and say that he didn't appreciate this kind of validation.

They both sat down at this booth at the back corner of the restaurant, Jungwoo figured it was so that they had more privacy and freedom to discuss what they came there to do. “So Dongyoung about the rent-”

Dongyoung interrupted him, “let’s talk about that later after we’ve eaten. I want to enjoy my lunch with you just like this, free of any other arrangements.”

Jungwoo didn’t want to press the subject further so he quietly looked at the menu, feeling Dongyoung’s eyes on him from time to time. He noticed that Dongyoung really was as stressed as he sounded on the phone, the furrow in his brow was never gone for too long. Jungwoo wondered what had the man so troubled, he hoped that meeting with him didn’t put a strain on his schedule.

“Dongyoung, you’ve been glaring at your menu for the past 5 minutes is everything okay?” Jungwoo’s voice brought him out of his trance and Dongyoung’s eyes softened the minute he looked up at him. “I’m fine, im just a little stressed with this company at the moment. They think it’s okay to ignore us for weeks and not uphold their end of the agreement. Trying to get a hold of them has been a real pain, I’m sorry if I seem upset.”

Jungwoo replied, “Is it okay to meet with me right now if your busy with that situation? I don’t want to be holding you back or anything.” 

Dongyoung reached for Jungwoo’s hand and gently stroked his thumb across his knuckles. Jungwoo wasn’t going to lie, the little things that Dongyoung did like this made him glad he was already sitting down or else his knees would have given out on him. “If it’s for you, it will never be a burden. I wanted to meet with you today, and I really needed a break after having such a stressful morning.” Jungwoo wasn’t fully convinced but before he could argue their waiter had arrived to take their order. 

“Get whatever you like Jungwoo, it’s my treat.”

Paying for his lunch, and for his rent? Imagine being that economically secure.

After they placed their orders Jungwoo began to play with his hands, he wanted to ask Dongyoung so many questions but didn’t know if he was even allowed to go this far.

He didn’t have to be in this dilemma for too long as Dongyoung broke the silence and began asking Jungwoo basic questions about himself. Age? 23. Major? Engineering but he was also interested in other subjects well. Birthday? February 19th. Jungwoo asked his fair amount of questions too, feeling more comfortable as the minutes passed by. He found out that Dongyoung was 33 years old, studied business in college, and had taken over the company after his parents died in a car accident a few years ago. Jungwoo appreciated Dongyoung for not asking about his situation with his parents yet. He wasn’t ready to go into the full details of that mess on a lunch date that was supposed to be a stress reliever. 

The food came and went, Jungwoo enjoying himself and seeing Dongyoung’s eyes sparkle made him even happier that he could provide the CEO with some peace of mind. They shared more details about each other: their hobbies, favorite movie, cereal before or after milk (Dongyoung answered after and Jungwoo was appalled to say the least), etc. There was never an awkward moment during their time together.

Until it finally came to the topic of their arrangement.

“So about the rent.” Jungwoo asked hesitantly.

“Ah yes, I guess we should talk about that now. I’ll have the amount deposited to your account shortly after we leave.”

Jungwoo chewed on his lower lip, “And then what happens after?”

Dongyoung sits back and looks at Jungwoo, as if the answers are written all over him, “whatever you want to happen. If you want my help again, call me. If you want someone to talk to, call me. The only thing I ask is that you let me see you again, I really enjoyed my time with you.”

Jungwoo could not believe this, it was too good to be true, “so what you’re saying is, you’ll give me money whenever I want and all you want in return is to take me out on dates every once in a while?”

Dongyoung nodded, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“You have the opportunity to fulfill your deepest darkest kinks and you throw it away, what kind of sugar daddy are you?” Dongyoung bursts out laughing at Jungwoo’s statement. Jungwoo wants to feel offended that he’s being laughed at but seeing how loosened up Dongyoung is around him makes him feel something warm in his chest. 

“You really are something else Jungwoo. What kind of sugar daddy am I? I guess I’m the type that just wants to take care of you, make you feel safe just like you said you want.”

Jungwoo’s breath caught in his throat.

“As for my ‘deepest darkest kinks’ I guess we could get more acquainted with each other in that sense, only if you really want to sweetheart.” Dongyoung said with a smirk.

“I can leave right now you know, the bus stop is only a block away.”

“Aww come on Jungwoo im only partially joking”

“LEAVING. NOW.”

Dongyoungs laugh rang throughout the whole restaurant. 

*****

Dongyoung drove Jungwoo back to his apartment after leaving the restaurant. On the drive, Dongyoung found out yet again something new about Jungwoo, not only was his voice soft when he spoke, he had a soft singing voice as well. He had an angry driver behind him honk several times before he noticed that the light had turned green, dongyoung was too distracted with this revelation to pay attention. Dongyoung wished he could’ve stayed in that moment in time for the rest of the week, but the reality was that he soon had to return back to work. Jungwoo was a nice escape from the chaos, a breath of fresh air. 

When he pulled up in front of Jungwoo’s apartment building he turned to him and gently grabbed Jungwoo’s hand, “thank you for having lunch with me today Jungwoo. Promise that we’ll see each other again soon?” Dongyoung saw the way Jungwoo became visibly flustered by his sincerity, it was an adorable look on him. He quickly nodded his head and Dongyoung slowly raised Jungwoo’s hand to his lips and left a soft kiss across the top of his hand, “until we meet again, I’ll be thinking of you Jungwoo.

If he was flustered before, then this probably sent Jungwoo into overdrive. Dongyoung saw Jungwoo struggle with opening the door a few times before he managed to get it open and gave him one last blinding smile before he closed it and walked into his apartment. Dongyoung made sure that Jungwoo made it all the way inside before driving off.

Now time to go back to work.

-

Taeyong smirked the minute he saw Dongyoung heading towards his office, “someone looks happy, I wonder why.”

“Yeah I guess I am pretty happy right now.” Dongyoung replied, the image of Jungwoo’s smile still fresh in his mind.

“Oh gross you’re all sappy who are you and what have you done with the Dongyoung from this morning? I remember you saying that once you found where the company had disappeared to you would, and I quote, ‘shove your foot up all their asses’.”

When Dongyoung didn’t respond right away, Taeyong strode over and sat on his desk. “Is this about the kid from yesterday?”

Dongyoung seemed to perk up there, “his name is Jungwoo. Did you know that his voice is even prettier when he sings?”

Man, Dongyoung was starting to have it bad for this kid.

But right now, Taeyong needed to get serious with Dongyoung. With how happy he was getting after just one meeting with Jungwoo, he didn’t want to see his best friend get hurt. “Look Dongyoung, I can see that you have it bad for Jungwoo. I’m not going to tell you what to do because I know you wouldn’t listen anyways, but just be careful, okay? Don’t get too attached to him, remember that your relationship is based around terms and conditions about money. I don’t want you to get taken advantage of because you let your emotions get the best of you.”

“Thanks for the concern Taeyong, I’ll be fine. I just happen to enjoy his company, maybe I do need to take a break every once.”

Taeyong knew he wouldn’t be able to pursue the matter any further with how awestruck Dongyoung still was.

“Just don’t let this ‘enjoying each others company’ escalate into something the both of you can’t handle.”

*****

“So you’re telling me, he took you out for lunch, gave you the money for the rent, and didn’t fuck you in the backseat of his car?”

“Watch that mouth of yours before I shove a bar of soap in it Lucas.”

“But Mark! Can you believe this right now?”

This was the current dilemma going on in their apartment. After Jungwoo got back, he worked on a few assignments for class on Monday until he heard Lucas and Mark come back from work. The both of them immediately rushed over to Jungwoo’s room to see that he did in fact return in one piece.

Jungwoo couldn’t completely disagree with Lucas, “yeah I told him he had the opportunity to get a few kinks out of his system and completely wasted it and he just laughed!”

“Don’t tempt him Jungwoo!” came Mark’s immediate retort. “Oh my gosh Jungwoo what if he has a thing for feet? What if he asks you for pictures of your feet in exchange for money?” Lucas was just spewing nonsense at this point. 

Jungwoo pretended to contemplate that question and just replied with, “I mean, if we’re talking just pictures then I mean…”

“The both of you are unbelievable” 

“Hey Mark we don’t kinkshame in this apartment, don’t forget about the handcuffs we found in your room that one time”  
A loud smack was heard followed by Lucas’s loud laughter as Mark struck Lucas on the arm, “those were for my halloween costume that year!”

“Sureee they were, don’t worry Mark we totally believe you.”

Sometimes Jungwoo wondered how Lucas was still alive, seeing how much he liked to tease Mark until he blew a fuse. 

Mark finally let Lucas live as he turned to Jungwoo again, “ignoring Lucas right now because he cleary can not control himself, was everything else fine? Did he treat you right? Was he too handsy with you? If he made you feel uncomfortable I swear-”

“I thought you said no swearing Mark”

Mark pushed Lucas’s face down into one of Jungwoo’s pillows, “did you hear something Jungwoo?” 

Jungwoo felt that he was going to pee himself from laughing so hard at his friends. He knew that their banter was all friendly, if any of them ever took it to far they never let the grudges last too long. “The most Dongyoung did was hold my hand and compliment me.” What they didn’t know about Dongyoung’s shameless innuendos wouldn’t hurt them.

Mark’s expression relaxed a bit, “oh well that isn’t bad at all I guess.”

“Oh and he kissed my hand when he dropped me off, I forgot about that.”

Lucas managed to get out of Mark’s grip, “wow Jungwoo you guys practically made it to third base, how kinky.”

“Lucas do you want to wash to dishes again tonight?”

“NOOOO”

-

Jungwoo ended up joining Mark that night when he hears the sink running. He dries the dishes as Mark finishes washing them. 

“Are you really okay with this Jungwoo?”

A serious talk with Mark could never be avoided.

“Yes mom, he treats me well. He doesn’t do anything to make me uncomfortable and says he just wants to take care of me.” Mark hands him another dish to be dried.  
“I’m sorry for being on your case so much, I just don’t want to see you get hurt. He’s older than you and is someone who has a significant amount of power in society, I don’t want him to use that against you or have you getting more involved with him cause you harm from strangers. Dongyoung is a person that is in the media regularly.”

Mark did have a point there, what would people think if their arrangement was made public? What would the university think? Would he get kicked out? Would he lose his job? Although he didn’t want to think like this, it was the reality of their situation.

Jungwoo tried to put on a confident front, “I promise I’ll be careful Mark. It’s not like I’m going to get too attached to him or anything, he’s fun to be around and I like the attention. The fact that I even get money out of it is a huge plus.”

Mark chuckles, “you say that now, but you know, being around someone for a significant amount of time, sharing moments with each other; you’re going to form some type of attachment to him one way or another.”

Maybe Mark was completely correct. Maybe Jungwoo should cut off Dongyoung after today. 

But maybe Jungwoo wanted to enjoy this for as long as he could.

Before it all went to shit somehow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> drunk dialing, unhealthy study habits, and Jungwoo literally falling for Dongyoung.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an exam this Thursday and I relieved some stress by writing this update and the next. Hope you enjoy it :)
> 
>  
> 
> I'll have chapter 4 up in a few hours, I had to break it up into two parts or else it would be too long

It’s been a week now, since Jungwoo and Doyoung last saw each other. The day after, Dongyoung gave Jungwoo his personal cell phone number so that they could keep in contact more regularly without the constraints of his office hours. Even though they haven’t been able to meet each other again, Dongyoung is the one to make sure to call every now and then even if it’s just to say goodnight to Jungwoo. He’s gotten so busy lately due to his midterm exams coming up and although Dongyoung reminds Jungwoo to not work himself to death, he feels that his advice is falling onto deaf ears. He just hopes that everything goes well for Jungwoo and that they can meet again to celebrate.

Dongyoung is brought out of his thoughts when Taeyong burst through the door of his office, “please tell me you’re not joking about your last text, I won’t hesitate to throw that stapler to your head.” As if Dongyoung would ever lie about something like that, him and Taeyong joke around and play pranks on each other but a line does exist that can not be crossed. “I’m serious Taeyong, the company finally fessed up and gave in their part, we can finally never have to deal with them again thank fuck.” 

Taeyong sags into the chair in front of Dongyoung’s desk, “finally I don’t have to deal with your grouchy ass.”

“I was going to suggest going out for drinks to celebrate but I guess you don’t want to go with my ‘grouchy ass’ right?”

Taeyong shoots up in his seat and pouts, “hey! You technically owe me because if it weren’t for me you would have never met Jungwoo so honestly I deserve a little more respect.” He really got Dongyoung there with that one. “Speaking of Jungwoo, have you told your cutie about the news yet?” 

“I tried calling him an hour ago but he didn’t pick up, he’s been cramming for his exams that are coming up in a few days so we haven’t been able to talk for too long.” Dongyoung did make sure to leave him a nice voicemail with words of encouragement to listen to later. “Well maybe you can help him destress for a bit, dongyoung, if you catch my drift.”

Taeyong was really testing him lately.

“No drinks for you Taeyong.”

“DONGYOUNG NO”

*****

Jungwoo has looked at his notes for so long, he feels like his brain is going to drip out of his ears. He’s at the point where it becomes difficult to retain any type of information due to the level of exhaustion he’s at, but he feels that if he’s not studying he’s just wasting his time. Mark was the last one to check on him at around midnight, telling Jungwoo that he should really go to bed soon and that the studying can be continued in the morning; but its now 1:36 AM and Jungwoo doesn’t plan on falling asleep anytime soon. He can’t afford to do badly and screw up his average, he also doesn’t want to make a fool of himself to his professor by not doing well. He’s got class in the morning but he’ll leave that issue to Future Jungwoo to deal with. Right now he needs to rewrite his note’s outline again, because the past 5 times were clearly not enough.

His phone that he left on his nightstand begins to vibrate, who the hell would call someone at nearly 2 in the morning? Jungwoo becomes even more confused when he sees that it's Dongyoung. Why would he be calling him this late? Didn’t he have work tomorrow? 

He answers the call anyways, “hello?”

There's a period of just weird shuffling noises, and Jungwoo begins to think that maybe Dongyoung called him by accident until he hears a very slurred but still familiar voice calling for him.

Was Dongyoung drunk? Where even was this man?

“Dongyoung? Are you drunk?”

This seemed to have finally caught Dongyoung’s attention.

“Jungwoo? How am I talking to you right now?” 

This would be a great source of entertainment, and blackmail material for later, “you called me silly, how much have you had to drink? I hope you’re not drinking by yourself.” At that moment he hears Dongyoung struggling with something and a voice in the background saying to give them the phone that he registers to be Taeyong’s. At least he got that questioned answered for him. 

Taeyong finally manages to get Dongyoung’s phone into his hands and answers Jungwoo, “hey Jungwoo I’m sorry about Dongyoung. We went to get drinks after work and this guy forgot about how much of a lightweight he was. I’m glad he called you though and not one of our potential clients, that would’ve been really bad.”

Jungwoo giggles, “I can imagine, why did you guys decide to go for drinks today though? Don’t you both have work in the morning?” 

“Ah, you haven’t checked the message that Dongyoung sent you yet. We finally finished our business with that troublesome client so we decided to celebrate, also tomorrow is our day off so it just all lined up perfectly.”

Jungwoo felt bad for not keeping up with Dongyoung, but he was just so immersed in his studying that he couldn’t bring himself to focus on anything else, “oh I’m really glad that you guys got that finally over with, Dongyoung seemed really tense about it when we met up.”

Taeyong laughed, “you’re telling me, imagine having to be in the same room as him when he was trying to get the clients on the line, I don’t think I’ve ever heard him curse so much in his life. Being around him was like being around a ticking time bomb, he blew up on a coworker for sipping their coffee too loudly.”

Jungwoo then hears Dongyoung whining in the background for Taeyong to give him his phone back, “You can get your phone back when you finish the water I gave you and stop pouting like that it’s not doing anything for you right now.” Jungwoo really wanted to see what Dongyoung looked like when he was pouting, he couldn’t imagine this serious CEO pulling something so childish. Suddenly he heard Taeyong shouting and Dongyoung laughing loudly into the receiver, “hey jungwoooo, Taeyong finally let me have my phone back,” Jungwoo heard Taeyong yell “no I didn’t you bastard!” in the background and Jungwoo laughed at their silly banter. “Did you drink the water that Taeyong gave you?” There was silence and then a very unconvincing “yes I did” from Dongyoung. He could not believe how childish he became when drunk. “If you don’t drink water I’m going to be sad Dongyoung.” 

“Noooo! Don’t be sad Jungwoo you’re the cutest when you’re happy.”

Oh so this is what they were doing now. Jungwoo doesn’t mind the validation.

“Okay Dongyoung, but seriously drink your water.”

“Fiiiiineeee.”

Jungwoo isn’t too sure, but he thinks he heard Taeyong call Dongyoung ‘whipped.’ Could’ve been just the wind though.

Jungwoo looks at his notes, the reminder of his exams next week hitting him hard. He wanted to go back to studying, but he couldn’t bring himself to hang up on Dongyoung. “Make sure to not stay up too late, I can tell that you’re going to be hungover as hell tomorrow and being sleep deprived isn’t going to help.”

“Aw, are you worried about me Jungwoo? That’s so cuteee.”

Taeyong speaks up in the background again, “the hangover you’re gonna get tomorrow won’t be cute, say goodbye to your cutie I’m taking you home now.” 

“Hey only I can call him cute, right Jungwoo?”

Jungwoo decides to play along for his sake, “Of course Dongyoung, only you.”

“Say goodbye to Jungwoo so we can go, if I knew you were going to get this drunk I would’ve just stayed home I feel like I’m taking care of a child.” Jungwoo couldn’t disagree with Taeyong’s statement at all. He heard Dongyoung huff and then proceed to say goodbye at least 5 times before his voice lowered a bit.

“You really are the most beautiful boy I’ve ever seen.”

Jungwoo found himself to flustered and in shock to respond and ends up letting Dongyoung end the call before he could snap out of whatever he was experiencing at the moment. He looks down at his notes, wondering how the fuck he could concentrate now that he has Dongyoung’s low voice calling him the most beautiful boy he’s ever scene replaying in his mind like a broken record he never wants to fix. 

He decides to take his friend’s advice for once and packs up his notes so that he can actually go to bed before 4 AM for the first time in 4 days.

*****

Dongyoung wakes up with a massive headache.

He hates himself for drinking so much last night.  
He looks to his left and sees a glass of water and the bottle of painkillers waiting for him. He downs one and then goes to check his phone to see if he has anything he’ll need to regret for the rest of his life. There’s only a message from Taeyong telling him that he was the one that left him him the painkillers on his nightstand and to take them as soon as he woke up, which he already did. He then sees that he has two from Jungwoo.

Did Taeyong get you home okay?  
You seemed really drunk last night when you called, I hope that you aren’t feeling too sick this morning

Well fuck.

He drunk dialed Jungwoo and now he just wanted the floor to swallow him up. He hopes to whatever god there is out there that he didn’t make too much of a fool of himself to Jungwoo. He goes ahead and calls him to just rip the bandage off of his wounded pride.

He hears the call connect.

“Good morning Dongyoung! Or should I say good afternoon since its like 3 PM right now?”

“Jungwoo I’m so sorry for bothering you so late at night I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to drink so much I should’ve just listened to Taeyong and stopped after a few shots but I was stubborn and now I probably embarrassed myself badly over the phone I swear I didn’t mean whatever embarrassing shit I said-”

“So you didn’t mean it when you said I was beautiful?” Jungwoo interrupted him.

“Wait what? What did I do or say when I called you I can’t remember.”

Jungwoo laughs softly, “you called me and I asked if you had too much to drink and you were a very bad liar about it. Taeyong took your phone and apologized for you and you were just whining about not being able to talk to me on the phone, it was honestly pretty cute. You are also quite the sweet talker when you’re drunk, I mean you already are when you’re sober but you wouldn’t stop telling me I was cute, not that I’m complaining thought.”

Maybe he didn’t have to yell at Taeyong after all.

“If that’s the case, then I won’t take what I said back. I’m still sorry for bothering you so late you were probably sleeping.”  
“I wish I was sleeping, I haven’t been doing that enough lately.” Dongyoung grew slightly worried at what Jungwoo just said. “What do you mean you haven’t been sleeping lately? Don’t tell me that it’s because you stay up all night studying. If you keep doing this you’re going to make yourself sick Jungwoo.” He could hear Jungwoo groan in annoyance, “don’t yell at me too, Mark is already on my case so much as it is. He keeps nagging me about taking time to eat a proper meal.” Jungwoo wasn’t sleeping or eating properly? “Jungwoo, please prioritize your health, how can you even take your exams if you end up bed ridden because you aren’t taking care of yourself?”

“I’m sorry Dongyoung, I’m just really stressed out and I need to do well on these exams. I promise that once exams are done I’ll be better.”

“Make sure to eat something later, listen to Mark and feed yourself a proper meal.”

“Okay dad.”

Dongyoug fights the urge to make a dirty joke. 

“Anyways, when does your last exam end?”

“On Friday at around midday, why?”

“Don’t plan anything because I’m taking you out for the best meal you’ll ever have. And don’t try to argue about it.”

“Free food? I don’t think I’ll ever complain again.” Dongyoung laughs, just weeks ago Jungwoo would’ve been so difficult about a similar proposition. He’s glad that Jungwoo has become more comfortable around him. “Okay then, let’s meet in front of the building where your presentation was at around midday so I can treat you, take care of yourself okay? You have to promise me that you will.”

He can hear Jungwoo whine a bit, “okay I promiseeee. I’ll see you then Dongyoung.”

They hang up and Dongyoung puts his phone down and stares off into space.

He was already excited to see Jungwoo again, and it wouldn’t be until next week. What were these feelings, and what did they mean?

*****  
“Jungwoo, please eat something, you can’t keep doing this.”

“I will later Mark.”

“Don’t give me that shit again Jungwoo, if I have to shove rice in your mouth myself to get you to eat then I will. You know I’m serious when I say that.”

*****

“Jungwoo please go to sleep.”

“I can’t yet Lucas, I need to finish revising my outline.”

Lucas then proceeds to pick Jungwoo up and take him into his bedroom and forces Jungwoo to sleep in the same bed as him so he knows for sure that he rested for at least a bit.

Jungwoo sneaks out when Lucas begins snoring.

*****

Finally, it’s time for Jungwoo’s last exam.

He didn’t get sleep last night, and barely got two hours in the night before.

He’s running on 5 cups of coffee and desperate hope.

Jungwoo walks into the classroom and hopes for the best.

*****

Jungwoo could not have gotten out of that classroom faster, he was finally free from exams for the time being. He feels pretty confident on how he did, and he hopes that his results reflect that. He tries not to think about how fucked his sleeping schedule is now.

As he walks out and in the direction of the building where he was meeting Dongyoung, he begins to feel faint, but ignores it as he gets closer. He just had to walk a little more and then he and Dongyoung would go out for food. He approaches the building and sees Dongyoung staring off, lost in thought.

As Jungwoo approaches him, Dongyoung notices him moving towards him and smiles once he sees that it’s Jungwoo.

However, the smile doesn’t stay for too long.

“Jungwoo are you okay? You look a little pale- Jungwoo!”

If it weren’t for Dongyoung being there, Jungwoo would’ve kissed the pavement for sure. Dongyoung catches him and tries to keep him upright.

“Jungwoo, look at me, are you okay? Can you walk? I’m going to take you to the car.”

Jungwoo tries to answer, but he just feels so sleepy; and Dongyoung’s arms are so warm and comforting.

He feels Dongyoung pick him up bridal style before he let’s himself knock out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> home cooked meals, a heart to heart, and Dongyoung finally meeting Mark and Lucas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's part 2! hope you enjoy it :)

Jungwoo wakes up to the smell of food.

What was Mark cooking for tonight?

Jungwoo opens his eyes.

This was not the living room of the apartment.

Jungwoo was laying across a white couch with a soft blanket covering him. He observed the living room he did not recognize at all.

And then it all came back to him. Jungwoo walking out of his classroom. Jungwoo feeling faint. Jungwoo meeting up with Dongyoung and then passing out from exhaustion.

He really fucked up this time, Mark and Lucas would be upset with him later.

Jungwoo then hears someone walk into the living room and he turns to see Dongyoung looking at him with a soft smile on his face. “You’re finally up Jungwoo.”  
“How long was I out for? Oh my gosh, we were supposed to go to lunch today! Dongyoung I’m so sorry, I didn’t think this was going to happen I thought that I’d be able to make it. I ruined our plans today.” Dongyoung just shakes his head and walks over to the couch so he can sit next to Jungwoo, “don’t apologize okay? I got really worried when you fainted, I brought you to my home because I feel like if I showed up to your apartment with you knocked out Mark would surely tear me a new one.” Dongyoung was not wrong about that at all. “As for our previous plans, don’t worry about it, I’m decent at cooking so I made us something to enjoy here. You must be really tired still so I didn’t want to take you out anywhere and have you exert yourself.”

Jungwoo looks down at his feet, feeling ashamed, “if it weren’t for me we could’ve been having fun right now. I know you say that everything is okay but I just feel really shitty about ruining our plans. You had to deal with my unconscious self and for that I’m sorry.”

Jungwoo feels Dongyoung take his chin into his hand and gently turn his face so that he was looking at Dongyoung. “Listen to me when I say this Jungwoo. I said I would take care of you right? Even if you did faint, that doesn’t mean that the day has gone to waste. I don’t care where we eat, just as long as I can spend that time with you, okay? Don’t be too hard on yourself about this, this is the last thing you need to do after collapsing like that.” 

Tears well up and threaten to spill down his cheeks, before he can argue with Dongyoung again, the hand holding his chin goes to back as Dongyoung pulls him in for a hug.

“Let’s enjoy our food before it gets cold okay? We can continue talking about this when we’re done.”

*****

After the meal that Dongyoung cooked for them, that was really good by the way, Jungwoo goes back into the living room and wraps himself in the blanket that Dongyoung covered him with. He notices that he forgot to check his phone when he woke up and picks it up from the coffee table.

He was in so much trouble.

He had so many messages from mark and a few from Lucas, they were all asking where he was and if he was okay because it’s late and he hasn’t gone back home yet.

He responds to Lucas first, because he knows that he’ll be a little more understanding.

It doesn’t take two minutes for Mark to call Jungwoo after he texts him saying that he’s fine and that he’s at Dongyoung’s house.

“Jungwoo are you okay? It’s almost 9 and we couldn’t get a hold of you so I got worried that your date with Dongyoung went wrong somehow, why are you at his house by the way?”

This conversation was going marginally better than he imagined, “it isn’t what you think Mark, I’m at his house because I passed out literally the second I met up with him.”

“What do you mean you passed out Jungwoo.” oops.

“Please don’t get mad okay, I didn’t get any sleep last night or the night before and I just...dropped?”

“Jungwoo, you’ve been doing this for days, of course your body is going to give out on you. This is why I was always telling you to sleep and eat something, so that this wouldn’t happen. Are you okay now? Did you eat something at Dongyoung’s house?” Jungwoo told him he did and then felt himself get teary eyed for worrying Mark so much. He had to make it up to him some day.

“I’m really sorry Mark, you always work so hard to take care of us and I never listen. You don’t deserve this and I’m sorry for stressing you out so much.” Jungwoo couldn’t hold back tears anymore, not when it came to Mark. He could never hold back his true emotions for too long. “Jungwoo please don’t cry, I’m glad to know that you’re okay now and don’t apologize anymore. I know how you get when you’re under pressure and I worry about you because I care about you. You aren’t a burden to us so please stop apologizing as if you were. You are on speaker by the way and Lucas is acting as if I can’t see him crying right now.” Jungwoo laughed when he heard protests coming from Lucas saying that he was definitely not crying. He wasn’t fooling anyone, they all knew he was a contagious cryer. 

Jungwoo says his goodbyes to Mark and Lucas and tells him that he’ll be home soon. 

Dongyoung then walks into the room and sees that Jungwoo’s cheeks are stained with tears.

“What’s wrong sweetheart, why were you crying?”

Jungwoo wipes away what was left of his tears and tells Dongyoung about his conversation with Mark. He’s too emotionally exhausted from today, already feeling sleepy again.

“Dongyoung, can you just hold me for a bit maybe? Mark and Lucas usually do when I’m done crying but they’re not here right now and you know” Jungwoo tries to make gestures with his hands but ends up feeling too embarrassed to explain himself further. “Of course Jungwoo, anything to make you feel better.” When Dongyoung opens up his arms for Jungwoo, he just falls into place, burying his face into Dongyoung’s chest so he doesn’t see that he’s about to cry again. Dongyoung rubs Jungwoos back with one hand and uses the other to run it through Jungwoo’s hair. Jungwoo lets out a shuddering breath and holds onto Dongyoung a little tighter, scared that if he loosens his grip he’ll lose it. 

-

Dongyoung smiles as he looks down at Jungwoo in his arms. 

He was like a baby. “My baby” he thought to himself.

He stiffened when he realized what just went through his head. Jungwoo was in no way his, maybe for just this moment he was, but the minute he walked out and Dongyoung deposited the money in Jungwoo’s account he was free of attachments.

Dongyoung could afford having Jungwoo’s time, but no matter how much money he paid he could never afford to have his all.

He needed to not get attached. 

*****

Dongyoung felt Jungwoo lean all his weight into him when he fell asleep. He would’ve fallen asleep himself, but he had to take him back home before it got even later. 

He picked up Jungwoo in his arms and carried him to the car, letting him sleep in the back seat as he drove towards the apartment. Dongyoung was careful to drive slower so that the bumps in the road didn’t wake up Jungwoo. 

When he pulled up in front of the apartment, he picked up a still sleeping Jungwoo and carried him to the front door. He rung the doorbell and waited for someone to open the door. 

A man a bit shorter than him answers the door.

“I take it that you’re Mark?”  
“How do you know that, I could be Lucas you know.”

“Don’t tell Jungwoo I told you but he said that you were the shortest one.”

Mark tries to look offended, but fails, “of course he would. Anyways, bring him inside I’ll show you where his bedroom is.”

Dongyoung walks in and when he makes his way to the living room his eyes fall onto another man sitting on the couch watching TV. When their eyes meet the man he figures is Lucas says rather loudly, “so the sugar daddy is meeting the friends tonight, do you have any friends by the way? I could use-”

Mark interrupts that thought right away, “Lucas don’t be too loud Jungwoo is sleeping and we want to keep it that way since he barely slept at all the past two weeks. You can bother Dongyoung later.”

Lucas just laughs at Marks frustration and he feels Jungwoo stir a bit in his arms but not wake up. Thank god. 

Mark brings Dongyoung to Jungwoo’s bedroom and lets him tuck Jungwoo into bed. It wasn’t that much of a challenge since Jungwoo had forgotten to make his bed that morning, probably from being to concentrated on his exam to worry about it. Dongyoung makes sure to take off Jungwoo’s shoes and his sweater before he sets him down. When he’s sure that Jungwoo’s head is resting comfortably and that the blankets cover him properly, he kneels down and brushes Jungwoo’s hair back. Seeing Jungwoo sleeping so peacefully made his heart clench, he really wants to do his best to protect him. Overtaken by these new emotions that he feels towards Jungwoo, he softly places a kiss on his forehead and whispers goodnight.

When Dongyoung walks out into the hallway, he nearly runs into Mark.

A smirk appears on his face, “I saw what you did you know, I won’t tell him if you answer this question I have for you.”

“And that is?”

Mark’s expression gets more serious, “what are your intentions with Jungwoo? You can try to lie to me all you want, but I know that the way you kissed him definitely doesn’t fall under whatever terms are a part of your arrangement.”

Dongyoung ponders a bit, because even he is becoming confused with all these new developments in his life. Does Dongyoung want his relationship with Jungwoo to go further than what they have now? Would Jungwoo even want him like that?

“I know you worry about Jungwoo a lot and I appreciate you for doing the most to make sure he is healthy. I want to do the same in a way. I want to make Jungwoo feel safe.”

Mark doesn’t say anything, whether he is pleased with Dongyoung’s answer he couldnt tell; but he takes Mark’s lack of a response as a form of approval. He walks out and says his goodbyes and drives home.

*****

“Why did Dongyoung kiss me?” Jungwoo asks into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you want you can follow me on twitter @chensAHWAE so we can cry about Ten's teasers together


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> crying over Naruto, Jungwoo having a gay panic, and Lucas giving Jungwoo valuable life advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back with another chapter :) I've come down with something and my stomach is feeling iffy so I took the spare time I got today to finish editing this chapter I hope you all like it 
> 
> I have a question for you all at the end notes so make sure to check it out :)

“You kissed him”

*****

“He kissed you”

*****

“I did”

*****

“He thought I wouldn’t notice because I was asleep, but I wasn’t actually asleep. Lucas woke me up with his loud voice.”

“I’m not THAT loud”

“We got a noise complaint because you cried so loud while watching Naruto the whole building heard you.”

“THAT WAS ONE TIME”

*****

It had been two weeks since that night, and Jungwoo still found himself unable to divert his thoughts from the fact that Dongyoung kissed him.

It was only on his forehead so it shouldn’t be that big of deal, but he just couldn’t help but think about it. Jungwoo tries to tell himself that it was probably just a force of habit, and that it didn’t mean as much a Jungwoo was making it out to be. 

He thought that the increase in his work hours at the cafe now that the remodeling was done would help get his mind off of that, but he found himself thinking about the way Dongyoung’s lips felt as he was steaming milk. Whenever a customer came in, he couldn’t help but compare them to Dongyoung: a girls hair would be the same shade as Dongyoung’s, a man would come in with a scarf that looked like one that Dongyoung had, etc. The thoughts were endless, it was as if he was 13 again and developing his first crush. 

These thoughts were dangerous. He was reminded of that every time a generous amount of money appeared in his bank account from Dongyoung after each date. 

They’ve met up three times, once to get coffee, and twice to go out for dinner after Jungwoo’s shift at the cafe was done. Each time they met always felt like the first. Dongyoung would give him the brightest smile the minute he saw him and ask him how his day was, they could’ve been on the phone 20 minutes before they met up and Dongyoung would still ask him. It made Jungwoo feel cared for. They would stay for so long at the restaurants, the workers probably cursed them behind their backs for keeping them after hours. However, every night always ended the same. Jungwoo would get dropped off at his apartment, Dongyoung would give his hand a last squeeze and a soft kiss across his knuckles, Jungwoo would walk out of the car and into the apartment wishing for more. He tried not to think about how scary these thoughts were. They weren’t even dating, or even explicitly stated that dating was their end goal of whatever they had, yet Jungwoo was developing these feelings as if they were supposed to become so much more. 

-

At around 4 PM the traffic of people coming into the cafe slows down and Jungwoo finds himself tidying up the smallest things on order to keep himself busy to pass the time. He’s pretty sure he’s wiped the same table for the fifth time in the past hour but doesn’t waste too much time thinking about that when the TV on the far wall started showing the news. 

“One of the city’s richest CEO’s, Kim Dongyoung, possibly off the Market?”

The color in Jungwoo’s face drains as he hopes that what’s going to be broadcasted to thousands of viewers isn’t what he thinks it is.

The picture that follows is one of Dongyoung, but the person he is with is not Jungwoo. It’s a woman that is facing away from the cameras and being led through the entrance of a store with Dongyoung smiling down at her. 

Jungwoo feels relieved that their arrangement didn’t just get outed on the news, but there’s now a nagging feeling tugging at his heart.

Why was Dongyoung smiling at that woman, the same way he smiled at him?

The warmth of the cafe suddenly disappeared, and Jungwoo felt his blood run cold.

*****

“Can you believe the crap their saying now, when she called me to tell me what happened we both couldn’t stop laughing.”

Taeyong laughed, “imagine the reporter that’s going to get yelled at after it’s revealed that she’s your cousin. That’ll teach them to not jump to conclusions in order for their article to get the most attention.” 

After his phone call with his cousin, Dongyoung met up with Taeyong during their break to just laugh about the ridiculous stories that the media will put out about him. He tended to keep his personal business private and didn’t really give the media anything juicy enough to make a profit from. So when small things like this get blown out of proportion, he can’t help but feel pity.

Taeyong shifts the conversation, “so, how about you kissing Jungwoo that night? You still won’t say more about it with me I’m hurt Dongyoung.” “That’s because there’s nothing more to say about it, I just kissed him on the forehead goodnight, anyone would do the same.” 

“Okay Dongyoung, keep telling yourself that.”

Dongyoung really is trying to tell himself that it was no big deal, but he’s having a really hard time convincing himself. All these new emotions he’s beginning to feel whenever he’s around Jungwoo are starting to worry him a bit. 

He and Jungwoo have definitely grown closer, especially after Jungwoo collapsed. Dongyoung feels himself wanting to take care of Jungwoo even more than he did before, he wants to make sure that Jungwoo doesn’t have to live through a repeat of that. After seeing how much it emotionally broke him down, he never wants to see Jungwoo so sad and in pain.

Although their relationship began out of a need to escape economic issues, Dongyoung can’t help but feel that now their relationship has developed into something more meaningful. 

He can only hope that it’s the same for Jungwoo.

Taeyong notices that Dongyoung has been quiet for a few minutes, off in his own thoughts. “Hey Dongyoung, be careful okay? I can see how happy Jungwoo has made you and how he’s had such a positive influence in your life even though you haven’t known each other for that long. I mean, you’re taking the time to have a proper lunch and conversations with other people in the office, and you’ve even accepted those days off that you used to decline constantly. I want you to be careful so that you don’t lose something that clearly has a special place in your life.”

Although Taeyong liked to mess around and get on his nerves on purpose, he always had the best advice and looked out for Dongyoung’s well being.

*****

Jungwoo comes home and slumps onto the couch, the images from the news story still playing back to back in his mind. Even after the small rush that happened a little bit before his shift ended, he found himself thinking about it from time to time. It didn’t help that some of the customers that came in talked about it as well. He was so distracted that he messed up a couple of orders, which rarely happened to him. He was glad to just finally be home, if he had to deal with another angry customer he might have just cried then and there. 

Lucas walks in and sees Jungwoo slumped across the couch, he walked over and picked up Jungwoo’s legs so he could sit down at the opposite end of the couch.

“Long day Jungwoo?”

“Tell me about it xuxi.” Jungwoo rubbed his eyes and just decided on throwing his arm across his forehead. “I messed up so much, I’ve never had so many people mad at me in so little time.”

Lucas began playing with the hem of the legs of his work pants, “is there a reason why you were messing up so much? Are you feeling okay?”  
Jungwoo decides that if he wants to talk to anyone about this, Lucas would be the best. He didn’t want Mark getting mad at Dongyoung for affecting him so much.

“Xuxi, is it normal to get upset when you see someone you’re not dating with someone else? Because technically you shouldn’t because they aren’t with you and don’t owe you exclusivity but a part of you still feels a bit sad about it when you see them happy with someone else.” 

“It sounds to me that you’re jealous Jungwoo, is this about Dongyoung?” Jungwoo nods. “I know that he’s just my sugar daddy and all and that we technically aren’t dating; but when I saw those pictures of him with that woman I couldn’t help but think scary thoughts. Like, ‘why is he smiling at her like that? I thought he only did that with me.’” Lucas pats his knee and gives him a sympathetic look, “I think you’re way past the point of just thinking of him as a sugar daddy.”

Jungwoo begins to feel frantic, “Lucas, I’m so scared. What do I do?”

“Honestly, I really don’t know, but I think that if you are feeling so strongly about Dongyoung to the point that you can’t get rid of those feelings no matter how hard you try; you shouldn’t ignore it. Even if it’s scary and even if it doesn’t get reciprocated, you can’t ignore what you feel. You can try to suppress your feelings, but I think I know you well enough to know that it’s the last thing you want to do.”

In that moment, in the living room of their apartment, strewn across their couch, Jungwoo decides to let himself fall. 

Even if it’ll hurt him in the end, at least he won’t have any regrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I have eventual smut tagged in this fanfic, and yes it is coming in the future chapters. I just wanted to know if you all would prefer the smut to be fluffy or kinky or maybe a mix of both? feedback would be greatly appreciated I value your opinions :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cafe visits, Dongyoung opens up to Taeyong, and Jungwoo's worst nightmare comes true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry please don't hate me too much for this :'(
> 
>  
> 
> (I may or may not have cried writing this)

Ever since Jungwoo allowed himself to properly fall for Dongyoung, any little thing involving the two of them becomes magnified. The daily phone calls, their dates, the way that Dongyoung will sometimes casually grab Jungwoo’s hand. All of these become things that Jungwoo becomes to cherish with all of his heart.

Jungwoo is working at the cafe today, it has been a pretty relaxed shift; not too many people coming in and the ones that do are very friendly. Currently, Jungwoo is on his lunch break scrolling through the group chat he has with Lucas and Mark. Mark reminds Jungwoo to pick up toilet paper on the way home while Lucas is sending pictures of Mark from when he was 14 and basically asking for a death wish. 

Jungwoo’s phone begins to ring and he sees that it’s Dongyoung calling him so obviously he picks up right away.

“Hello Jungwoo how is everything at work today?”

“Eh, its pretty slow right now. Not a lot of people are coming in but I’m not complaining about it. It’s less stressful.” 

“I’m glad to hear that, by the way you never told me which cafe you worked at now that I remember.” Jungwoo realizes that he didn't, so he tells Dongyoung that it’s the small cafe that is down the street from his university. He doesn’t think much of the fact that Dongyoung asked him where he worked. They continue their conversation until Jungwoo realizes that he’s already gone 3 minutes over his break and promises to call Dongyoung later.

-

Not even 30 minutes later.

“Dongyoung what are you doing here?”

When Jungwoo had seen Dongyoung walk through the front door of the cafe, his heart rate skyrocketed. There he was, the object of his affections, with a small bag in his hands and wearing casual clothing. “I brought you something to eat for later, I felt bad about distracting you so much during your lunch break so I thought I would make it up to you by buying you something.” This man really knows the way to his heart without even trying. Jungwoo smiles and takes the bag from Dongyoung, “I appreciate it, are you going to order something from here or did you only come by to drop this off?”

Dongyoung pretends to contemplate the question as if it was something that difficult to answer, “you know what now that you suggested it, I want to see how well you can make coffee.” Jungwoo always liked challenges.

“I’m going to make your coffee so good you’ll never want to go anywhere else for coffee again.”

-  
When Jungwoo is done making Dongyoung’s coffee, he takes it out to him and waits for him to take that first sip. (take a fuckin’ sip babes)

Dongyoung looks up at Jungwoo, he couldn’t hide his eagerness to hear what Dongyoung thought about the drink he made him even if he tried. “Jungwoo this is a really nice coffee, I’m not just saying that either. I really mean it.”

Jungwoo smiles and claps his hands together, “well I made it with love for you so I’m glad that you love it, I didn’t expect anything less.”

He turns around and goes back behind the counter to pick up a rag to clean a couple of the tables with, there’s only a few other people here besides Dongyoung so Jungwoo decides to pass some time. He’s glad that the people that frequent the cafe tend to leave the tables relatively clean, it’s less work for him and he gets to daydream to himself with calm. Jungwoo is wiping down the last table, two down from where Dongyoung is sitting, when he feels someone tap his shoulder lightly. He turns around to see a boy around his age shuffling a bit and nervously playing with his hands.

Jungwoo smiles at him, hoping to make him less tense, “is there something I can help you with?” The boy nods and says, “I’ve been coming here for a couple of weeks and you always seem so happy even when people yell at you. You seem to care about everyone that walks in here. And I think that’s why I started to like you. So, do you want to go on a date with me sometime?” 

Well this was completely unexpected. Jungwoo knew that this guy had become one of their new regulars, he just never thought that this was the reason behind it. Although he seemed nice, Jungwoo liked Dongyoung too to think about anyone else romantically. “You seem to be very nice and i appreciate you for coming to me and being open with your feelings; but I’m sorry, I’m not interested.”

“What do you mean you’re not interested?”

And that’s when Jungwoo knew that this was not going to end pretty. He repeats himself, “I said I’m not interested, I’m sorry.”

The guy grabs Jungwoo’s wrists and get too close to him for comfort. If Jungwoo wasn’t on the clock and in a public area he would’ve knocked this persons teeth out for grabbing him like that without his consent. “Look I said what I said. I’m not interested so please let me work.”

“What does this other guy have that I don’t huh? I could make you forget about him in one night if you let me.”

Jungwoo did not have the fucking patience for this. His shift wasn’t over for another three hours and if he had to deal with this guy during them then he didn’t know what he would do.

“Hey, maybe if someone says no after every time you ask them out you should probably let them go and spare yourself further embarrassment kid.” Dongyoung had gotten up from his seat and started making his way towards them. The guy didn’t move away from Jungwoo, but he could feel the grip on his wrists loosen as Dongyoung towered over him. “And who even are you?” the guy asked with a scowl on his face.

“Who am I? I’m his boyfriend.” 

Jungwoo’s heart was doing flips in his chest, he never thought he would hear those words come out of Dongyoung’s mouth. He was almost ecstatic about it, until he realized that the only reason Dongyoung was doing this was to get the guy off of his case. Not because of any underlying feelings. 

“Well I don’t think I believe you two are dating, how do I know you’re not lying about it?” Jungwoo wondered if this guy was really this stubborn in real life. Could he not take a hint? 

“I don’t see why I have to prove my relationship to someone like you, but I have had enough of you disrespecting my boyfriend and harassing him while he’s working, a time where you know he can’t be rude to you no matter how badly he wants to.” Dongyoung moves in and pulls Jungwoo into him by his shoulders, the guy finally releasing Jungwoo’s wrists. Before Jungwoo can even process what has just happened, he feels a pair of soft lips pressing gently against his. Was he dreaming?

Was Dongyoung really kissing him right now?

The kiss didn’t last too long, and when Dongyoung pulled away Jungwoo saw the guy exiting the cafe in a rush. He looked at Dongyoung again and couldn’t find it in him to say anything, too in shock of what just happened. Dongyoung is the one to break the silence, “I’m sorry for just doing that to you without asking Jungwoo. I just wanted to give this guy something convincing enough so that we would leave you alone.”

That’s right.

It was for show.

Nothing more.

Jungwoo still couldn’t collect enough words to string them into sentences and he could tell that his silence was beginning to worry Dongyoung a bit. “Hey, are you okay Jungwoo? If what I did really bothered you I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s fine Dongyoung, you didn’t scare me. I didn’t think that the guy would react so negatively.”  
Jungwoo was only partially saying the truth. “Oh okay, I was worried that I really upset you by doing that, I promise that if the situation ever comes up I’ll wait to see if it’s okay with you.” 

Jungwoo wasn’t upset that Dongyoung kissed him. He was upset with himself for enjoying it too much. If this was the most he would get that resembled a relationship, should he let himself enjoy it as much as he could? 

Dongyoung ruffles Jungwoo’s hair, “anyways, I have to get back to the office now. I’ll see you soon and I hope you don’t have anymore difficult customers like that coming in again.” Jungwoo watches as Dongyoung makes his way out of the cafe. The silence that follows becomes too much for him to handle, nothing going on to distract Jungwoo from all the thoughts tumbling around in his mind. He goes back behind the front counter, puts his head in his hands, and fights the urge to cry.

*****

The door of Taeyong’s office slams open.

“I fucked up, I fucked up, Taeyong I really fucked it all up.” 

Taeyong immediately goes to shut the door in order to give the two more privacy and gestures to Dongyoung to sit down on the chair next to him. “Okay Dongyoung I’m going to need you to calm down, what do you you ‘fucked up’? I thought you were just going to drop off some food for Jungwoo?”

“Well I did way more than just drop some food off, I fucking went ahead and kissed him Taeyong! This guy was harassing him and wouldn’t leave him alone even after I lied and said that Jungwoo was my boyfriend so I just did the first thing that came to mind and kissed him right in the middle of the fucking cafe.” Dongyoung frantically ran his hands through his hair as if it would help solve his problems.  
Taeyong was slightly confused at the dilemma, “okay so you kissed him to get some asshole to back off, tell me why this warrants you coming and and raising hell all over the place?” 

“Because when I was kissing him, I couldn’t stop thinking about how badly I wanted to do it again.”

And that was where the issue was. Dongyoung tried to keep a his emotions in check while in the cafe, but the minute he walked out he felt himself going into a panic at how fast his heart raced when he pulled Jungwoo closer to him, knowing that he would kiss him in the next second. People who only met each other for money shouldn’t feel this way. He shouldn’t be getting so attached. “Taeyong what do I do? What does this mean for me now?”

Taeyong let out an audible sigh, “it means that you like Jungwoo a hell of a lot more than you thought you did. The question you should be asking yourself know is what you’re going to do about it.”

Dongyoung knew that he didn’t want to stop seeing Jungwoo, but whether he would open up to him about his true feelings was something that would have to wait. He wouldn’t wait too long though, he knew that lack of communication was the prime ingredient for disaster.

-  
Later in the afternoon, Dongyoung is planning on packing up for the day and heading home. He may even call Jungwoo before bed, who knows. 

As he begins to gather up his things, Yuta frantically runs into his office very out of breath “Dongyoung, were you by any chance at a cafe earlier?”

“Yes I was, why? How do you know this?”

Yuta doesn’t say anything but extends his hand that's holding his cell phone, Dongyoung can see that there's a video on pause on the screen. He takes the phone and presses play.

Dongyoung’s heart drops into his stomach.

*****

It’s been around 2 and a half hours and Jungwoo has been pretty productive, he feels proud of himself. Although thoughts about what happened at the cafe today kept running through his head, Jungwoo was able to get ahead on a couple of assignments. While he was doing his work, he could hear occasional bickering coming from Mark and Lucas. Mark was in the kitchen washing the dishes and Lucas was on the couch watching TV. Jungwoo didn’t mention too much about work, feeling that he should bring it up when he was more calm. Also, he didn’t think that he would be able to handle all the questions that would come from Mark and Lucas when he still was processing the whole thing.

The sound of glass breaking makes Jungwoo jolt and make his way towards the kitchen. When he walks in he sees Mark with the shards of the glass cup he dropped surrounding his feet. Although Jungwoo is trying to get Mark’s attention, his stare is fixed off into the living room. Jungwoo turns and see that Lucas is in a similar trance as well.

“Guys is everything okay you’re starting to scare me.” 

Lucas speaks up first, “Jungwoo, I think you’re going to want to sit down for this.” Jungwoo nods and goes to sit next to him and Lucas motions for him to watch what’s going on the TV.

The news is on, and Jungwoo’s worst nightmare is unravelling in front of an audience of thousands of viewers.

There are pictures of him and Dongyoung at a restaurant they visited just days ago. Video clips of them walking hand in hand to Dongyoung’s car. All of these moments that he thought were just for the both of them, now being exposed for several people to see. 

The headlines all say the same thing. Dongyoung hooking up with a college student, Dongyoung downgrading, Dongyoung manipulating him into being in a relationship with him, all these nasty lies that Jungwoo couldn’t stop from running across the screen.

Jungwoo thought that this was bad enough, but he was proven wrong within the next minute.

He recognizes the angle that the camera was recording from, it was from a corner in the cafe that tends to be overlooked by how secluded it is from the rest of the cafe. The video shows the altercation between Jungwoo and the guy, Dongyoung getting up and then pulling Jungwoo in for the kiss that he couldn’t stop thinking about. He’s thankful that Lucas made him sit down, because he’s sure his knees would’ve given out from shock. His name, his face-all over the news. Everyone wondering how they became so close to each other. Lucas has put his arm around his shoulder and Jungwoo can already smell the tea that Mark is preparing that he drinks whenever he’s going through a really hard time.

The screen changes and a news reporter is speaking, saying that they’ve managed to get a few words from Dongyoung himself as he was walking out of the building where he worked.

Jungwoo sees a reporter shove their camera in Dongyoung’s face as Taeyong and other faces he doesn’t recognize try to clear the way ahead of them, and the TV begins to play the footage gathered by that reporter.

“Mr. Kim, do you have anything to say about the videos that were leaked, is that kid your boyfriend? Are the two of you lovers?”

“He’s not my boyfriend, I wish I never got involved with him.”

He can’t even find it in himself to cry, too in shock at what he just heard come out of Dongyoung’s mouth.

Jungwoo knew that they weren’t dating, he knew that their relationship was just based off exchanging money for a few hours of his company; but he thought that their relationship had become more significant to each other. Dongyoung was there for him when he overworked himself, was there for him when he was crying about not being able to pay for rent, always made sure that he was happy and safe. 

How could Dongyoung disregard him so easily like that? How could he wish the two of them never crossed paths?

Jungwoo needs his phone. He needs to call Dongyoung. He needs to know it it’s all true, if Dongyoung really meant what he said. 

He scrambles into his room and calls Dongyoung, he knows that by now he’s in the car on his way home so he should be able to reach him. When he hears the call connect, his nerves just take over and he breaks down. Mark comes in and takes the phone from Jungwoo, while Lucas goes in to rub Jungwoo’s back and try to coax him. Jungwoo can hear Mark yelling at Dongyoung. Asking him if he was really that heartless. Telling him that he should’ve trusted that thought in the back of his mind that reminded him that he couldn’t put his trust in him.

Jungwoo is far from being calm, but he’s tired and he just wants to know the truth. He manages to snatch his phone away from Mark and he can hear Dongyoung sigh heavily.

“Dongyoung, tell me this isn’t true. Tell me that you don’t mean it.” Jungwoo cringes at how hard his voice cracks.

“Jungwoo, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t give me that crap Dongyoung. Answer me, tell me that I don’t matter to you. Tell me that whatever we had doesn’t mean shit to you.” Tears run down Jungwoo’s cheeks, crying from anger rather than sadness at the moment.

“I should have never gotten you involved in this mess Jungwoo, I’m sorry.”

Jungwoo thinks to himself why this was happening to him now. His life was finally getting back on track somewhat, just for it to all go to shit like this. Jungwoo doesn’t want to regret letting himself fall off the deep end for Dongyoung, but it’s so hard when good things rarely stayed that way in his life. He felt stupid for thinking that this would be any different.

Jungwoo finds it hard to breathe, but he manages to get his last words out.

“You know what Dongyoung, you're right. None of this matters, you’re just my sugar daddy anyways. I feel pretty stupid right now for ever thinking that we could’ve been so much more. Do me a favor and don’t call me again. If your wish was to never have gotten involved with me, then I’ll grant it for you as a parting gift.”

Jungwoo hangs up the phone, blocks Dongyoung’s number, and falls into the arms of Mark and Lucas. No matter what happened in his life, Jungwoo could always feel safe depending on them. 

That night, Jungwoo, Mark, and Lucas all cramp into his small bed. Jungwoo finds himself clinging onto the both of them, their comfort and warmth being enough to finally put him to sleep for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you need to vent, follow me on twitter @chensAHWAE
> 
> I PROMISE THAT THIS WILL HAVE A HAPPY ENDING. THEY JUST NEED TO RESOLVE THEIR MESS.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [insert kissy face emoji here]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me pull an uwu here and say that I appreciate all the lovely comments that you all have left on this fanfic with all of my heart. I had been planning on writing a fanfic like this for a while but I was nervous about how the reception of it would be. Every time I read a comment with kind words and your own personal reactions to the update I'm reminded of how glad I am that I mustered up the courage to begin sharing this story with you all. Anyways I'm going to stop here because I feel myself tearing up from being so sappy :')
> 
>  
> 
> I love interacting with you all so comment your NCT bias and your favorite song by any of the units. :)

It’s been two weeks.

At day 4, Jungwoo shut off his phone and told Mark to hide it in a drawer somewhere so that he wouldn’t be tempted to turn it back on again. Ever since the news story, his phone has been going off day and night from news outlets emailing him asking for his input on the situation. Jungwoo didn’t want to give the media any kind of reaction because he knew that the minute that he retaliated in some way he would never be able to escape them. He was waiting it out, waiting for the reporters to grow tired and eventually leave him alone.

He hasn’t been able to go to work, his boss tells him that there are reporters constantly asking for him and that at times they've grow violent when he tells him that Jungwoo isn’t there. Jungwoo couldn’t imagine how much worse it would be if he actually was there, he didn’t want to put people’s lives at risk. It’s not like Jungwoo had to worry too much about money at the moment. He had enough saved up from all the times he met up with Dongyoung to equate the amount he would’ve made in 7 months. 

School has become hell.

His professors have been the only people that have made it manageable, they were very understanding of his situation and have done their best to protect them in their own ways. They’ve managed to prevent the reporters from coming on to campus as they would cause a major disruption and could pose as a potential danger to the students. Jungwoo was grateful for their help through this mess. 

His classmates are the reason why he’s having such a shitty time. The first day after the incident was the worst. There were catcalls, people ‘accidentally’ spilling their drinks on him in the dining hall, and even though his teachers tried to stop it; they always seemed to find a way. He didn’t feel safe going anywhere by himself, which sucked because Mark and Lucas had schedules that didn’t match up with his in any way, so he was forced to make himself as invisible as possible when going anywhere on campus. No one ever did anything to harm him physically, but that didn’t help the fact that he was always on high alert for anyone trying to humiliate him in some way.

Lucas and Mark tried to coax him out of the house a few times, and at first, everything went fine. They would always go places that were more secluded or even went to the next town over to avoid any of the local reporters. However, they ended up getting too comfortable and decided that there was no harm in going somewhere more local until a group of girls that were probably still in high school started harassing him and asking him if Dongyoung was any good in bed.

After that, Jungwoo became less willing to go out anywhere, the minute that his classes were done for the day he would quickly make his way home and seclude himself in his room until it was time for dinner. Mark tried not to bring it up, but Jungwoo could tell that he was still very upset with Dongyoung. Once someone gets on Mark’s bad side like that, it’s very difficult to redeem yourself in his eyes, and because Jungwoo was involved it was even worse. Dongyoung would be lucky if Mark ever felt anything less than resentment towards him. Lucas was also upset, but he was more confused than anything. He was more encouraging of the idea of Jungwoo going to speak with him to clear things up, and if not to at least get all of his emotions out so that he could move on. 

Meeting Dongyoung again seemed very unlikely to happen at the moment, seeing how the reporters have gone to following him wherever he goes. Also, Jungwoo didn’t know if he would ever be ready to face him again.

*****

Dongyoung was miserable, and it was starting to affect everyone in the office.

Everyone was walking on eggshells around him, ever since he blew up on Yuta for sipping his coffee a little too loudly. Taeyong’s been the only one that can handle his temper and calm him down. 

Dongyoung has done as much damage control as he could, but the media is still up his ass and constantly documenting any little thing he does. He knows that things could only be worse for Jungwoo. He at least had a team of people that could get him escorted anywhere without reporters shoving him around, Jungwoo is probably living through hell right now. Although Taeyong advised against it, he contacted Jungwoo’s boss and found out that he hasn’t gone into work ever since in fear of causing danger to himself and others. 

He feels extreme guilt for what he has done to Jungwoo’s life and has wished every day that things didn’t get this messy. He wishes that he could’ve told Jungwoo the truth, and hates himself for what he said to Jungwoo over the phone. Dongyoung broke his promise and doubted that he could ever get Jungwoo to forgive him and trust him ever again.

When he told Taeyong why he said what he did, he didn’t hold back on letting him know that he was the biggest idiot he’s ever known. Dongyoung thought that if he made Jungwoo hate him, it would make it easier for the both of them. If Jungwoo hated him, he didn’t have to deal with the sadness and could move on from him easier. 

Taeyong keeps stressing that he needs to talk to Jungwoo, but Dongyoung doesn’t want to burden him any further. He knows that if he goes out to meet him, the media will follow and it’ll make things way harder on the both of them. 

Taeyong walks into his office for the third time that day.

“You look like shit.”

“Thanks Taeyong, you have such a way with words.”

“You know you wouldn’t have to look like shit and be in such a terrible mood if you just stopped being a coward and talked to Jungwoo.”

Dongyoung sighs, he did not want to have to do this again. “Taeyong, I already told you that I’m not going to do that. I don’t want to add on to the list of problems he’s probably going through right now.” Taeyong slams his hands down on Dongyoung’s desk, causing him to jolt a bit “you know I’m really fucking tired of hearing you say the same excuses over and over again. It’s almost as if you didn’t really care about Jungwoo and really wanted to get rid of him.”

That really got Dongyoung's blood boiling, “You think I enjoy doing this Taeyong? You don’t think I want to knock on his door and see him again? I fucking miss him, I can’t stop thinking about him no matter what I do. Every morning I wonder if he woke up okay and every night I hope that he goes to sleep at a reasonable time. I didn’t want to push him away, but I had to. I had to save him from this lifestyle where he can’t even breathe without the media coming out with ten different articles spreading lies about him, he’s still young and he already has so much to deal with and if i can’t be the one to make his life easier anymore then I’d rather stay out and not make him resent me in the end.”

Taeyong scoffs, “you’re my best friend, but sometimes I really fucking hate you. You wanted to save him from the media? Well that's too late now, regardless of what you did the media is still going to be up his ass. The best you could’ve done was to be there for him and stay by his side, not abandon him when he needs you the most. You didn’t make his life any easier by breaking his heart and leaving him out to deal with everything on his own. Did you ever even consider what Jungwoo really wanted, or did you just assume everything on your own and make decisions for him?”

Dongyoung puts his head in his hands, he knows that Taeyong is speaking nothing but the truth. “I told you not to do this if you weren’t ready to handle the outcomes, I fucking told you. It’s too late for you to run away scared now. Face your feelings and talk to him Dongyoung.”

Dongyoung whispers softly, “what if he doesn’t love me anymore?”

“Then I will be here for you like always, but don’t let this go without a fight. I know how much you care about him, and I can see that you’re miserable without him. I don’t want you to lose your chance to fix this.” 

Dongyoung wants to make this right, even if Jungwoo doesn’t want anything to do with him ever again, he just wants to see him one last time. Before they let each other go for good.

“I’m going to need your help Taeyong. I can’t go to his apartment because I’ll most likely get tailed. So I need you to bring him to me. Don’t force him if he doesn’t want to, I’ll take that as my answer.”

Taeyong nods and begins to make his preparations for his plan.

*****

Jungwoo is finishing up his homework for the day when he hears the doorbell ring. He doesn’t know who it could possibly be because Mark was staying the night at Donghyucks and Lucas picked up a later shift. 

When he opens the door and sees Taeyong looking back at him, he nearly slams the door shut. Too bad that Taeyong was expecting this reaction and moved quicker.

“Give me 20 minutes Jungwoo.”  
Jungwoo struggles to get Taeyong’s hands off of the door, “and why should I do that? What makes you think I want to give you 20 minutes of my time?”

“I promise you won’t regret this Jungwoo, just please give me a chance.”

Jungwoo is too tired to argue at this point and gives in. He shows Taeyong the living room and tells him to sit down. “You have 20 minutes before I kick you out.”

“Dongyoung is miserable, Jungwoo.”

Jungwoo laughs, “oh really? He’s miserable? I thought he didn’t give a shit about me.”

“Let me finish Jungwoo.”

Jungwoo at least tried to keep his temper under control, “No you let me finish okay? You wanna talk miserable? How about having everyone in your classes constantly mocking you and harassing you everywhere you go, how about not being able to go to work because there’s a group of assholes with cameras waiting for you, and on top of that, not being able to do something as simple as grocery shopping without people asking you ‘for a good time’? Dongyoung gets to at least escape this bullshit, I’m constantly reminded of how much of a fool I was to let myself trust him.” Jungwoo is breathless, but feels a lot better after getting that out of his system.

“Look Jungwoo, I’m not saying that you’re not having a hard time, I understand that you’re going through a really shitty time right now. I didn’t come here to fight with you, I came here because I can’t stand to let Dongyoung keep ruining his own life like this.” Taeyong hoped that Jungwoo would let him finish. “I think we both know that Dongyoung is a dumbass, listening to the excuses that his two brain cells have managed to work up as nearly made me lose all of mine. Although he’s my friend, he knows that I’m really upset with him right now.”

“What he said to you over the phone that night was the last thing he wanted to do. He was planning on telling you his true feelings that day before shit hit the fan. I don’t know why he thought that this would make things easier, but his plan was to make you hate him so that you could move on easier. It’s that whole ‘being mad is easier than being sad’ bullshit. He really regrets what he did.”

Jungwoo speaks up, “Do you expect me to believe that? He didn’t even try to fight for us, how do I know for sure that he isn’t just lying about this too? How do I know you’re not lying to me and trying to make a fool of me again?”

Taeyong was really losing his patience with these two dense idiots, “You think I would really lie about this Jungwoo? Dongyoung, my best friend, has been the happiest that I’ve seen him in all the years I’ve known him. You want to know why? Because ever since he’s met you, it’s as if he realized that there’s more to his life than working non stop. He takes days off now, he never used to do that unless he was sick to death. He takes days off because he’s excited to see you. Literally days before you guys have a date, he never shuts up about it. He goes home at a reasonable time now, he sits down with others at lunch and enjoys himself. I don’t know what you did to him to make him this happy. So tell me Jungwoo, do you really think I’d lie about this? Do you really think I wouldn’t do the most to look out for my friend and make sure he doesn’t lose something that has made him so happy?”

Jungwoo doesn’t know what to say. How would anyone respond to something like that? A part of him still didn’t want to trust Taeyong, but he couldn’t stop himself from crying. Taeyong puts his hand on Jungwoo’s shoulder, “I don’t blame you for reacting the way you did, I think that anyone faced with that situation would’ve reacted the same way that you did. You’re human and you’re entitled to the feelings that you had, but please don’t let this go now. I feel that you might end up regretting it.”

“Just tell me one thing Taeyong.”

“What is it?”

“Does he love me, the way that I do?”

“If he didn’t, I wouldn’t have gone to the lengths I did in order to come to you and speak with you right now.”

Jungwoo feels relieved for the first time in two weeks. “Where is Dongyoung right now?”

“Dongyoung is still in his office, I was just there talking to him before I came here. He’s falling back into his old habit of staying there longer than he has to.”

Jungwoo’s heart ached for Dongyoung, “Taeyong, please take me to him. I need to see him.”

Taeyong raised a brow at Jungwoo, “you do realize that the reporters are still swarming the office like crazy right? Are you sure that you’re ready to go through with this knowing that they could see you at any time?”

Jungwoo nods, “I don’t want this to go on any longer, I don’t care what the media has to say about it anymore. I love him, and not even a nasty reporter will change my mind at this point.”

“Alright kid, let’s go see your man.”

The first phase of his plan was secure.

-

Taeyong drives Jungwoo to the office, making sure to take a different route that’ll lead them straight to an alternative entrance to the building. Although the car ride was silent, Jungwoo’s head kept him entertained enough with all this new information running through his head. When they get there, Jungwoo keeps his head down as Taeyong quickly escorts him into the building, successfully avoiding the chaos out front.

As they take the elevator up to the floor that Dongyoung’s office is on, Taeyong asks Jungwoo again if he is serious about this.

“I can’t afford to waste anymore time lying to everyone and myself by saying that I’m not.”

The elevator dings, indicating that they’ve arrived. 

Taeyong turns to Jungwoo, “okay kid, his office is right down the hall with his name plate across the door. I’m going to leave you here and try to see if I can clear away some of the reporters that are out front so that when you leave it’ll be less of a hassle. Good luck and I hope that everything goes well for the both of you.”

Jungwoo gives Taeyong a last goodbye before he begins to walk down the hall. He was so nervous that he could feel his legs waver a bit as he reached closer and closer to where Dongyoung was. 

When he’s right in front of the door, he knocks twice before he hears that voice that he’s missed, although it sounds a bit more weary, it's undoubtedly Dongyoung. Once he gets the okay to come in, he takes a deep breath and opens the door.

Dongyoung doesn’t look up right away, Jungwoo can see that he’s deeply concentrated on a document he’s scribbling on. 

“Hi Dongyoung.”

Jungwoo has never seen any react so fast to his voice, “Jungwoo...is it really you? Tell me that it is.”

Jungwoo giggles, and feels his eyes start to get a bit watery,“yes Dongyoung, it really is me.”

Jungwoo swallows back the tears that are threatening to fall, he needs to hold himself together just a bit longer. He walks around Dongyoung’s desk so that he is standing directly in front of him. Dongyoung slowly stands up and Jungwoo can see how tired his eyes look. He knew that his weren’t any better after crying in front of Taeyong.

“I’m going to ask you to tell me again Dongyoung”

“Tell me that I don’t matter to you, tell me that what we have doesn’t mean shit to you.”

“I told myself to fall for you for real, because I was tired of pretending that you were just a sugar daddy to me.”

“So now tell me, Dongyoung, do you love me like I love you?”

Dongyoung reaches up to hold Jungwoo’s face in his hands.

“I think I’ve loved you ever since you opened up to me and let me help you feel safer in your world that constantly hits you with issues that someone as precious as you doesn’t deserve.”

“I’m sorry for pushing you away that night, I thought that if I made you hate me it would be easier for you to move on.”

Jungwoo raises his hand and lightly holds onto Dongyoungs wrist, “I don’t think I could ever hate you, and it’ll take a lot more to get rid of me Dongyoung. Are you going to stop running from me, from us, now?”

Dongyoung strokes Jungwoo’s cheek with his thumb and looks into his eyes with a soft expression on his face, “I’m ready Jungwoo.”

Jungwoo moves his face closer to Dongyoung’s to the point that he could feel his lips lightly brush against Dongyoung’s.

“Kiss me.”

Dongyoung didn’t need to be told twice. He pulls him in, their lips crashing, putting all of their pent up emotions into the kiss. Jungwoo kisses him back, as if it’s going to be the last thing he ever does, and it makes Dongyoung breathless. There hands are everywhere, grabbing onto anything, needing to be reassured that this moment is real.

Dongyoung’s hands move to the back of Jungwoo’s neck, then to the back of his head, pulling on his hair lightly. The whine that Dongyoung swallows up makes him nearly lose his self control. Jungwoo blindsides Dongyoung yet again by break their kiss and pushing Dongyoung into the chair at his desk and straddling his lap. Dongyoung wraps his arms around Jungwoo’s waist and takes over where Jungwoo left off. His kisses begin trailing down Jungwoo’s neck and he begins to nip lightly at Jungwoo’s exposed collar bone. He can hear the hitch in his breath and Dongyoung smiles against his skin. He moves up and begins to suck at a patch of skin on Jungwoos neck, planning on leaving as many marks as Jungwoo will let him. He wants everyone to see that Jungwoo is his beautiful boy. He begins to feel Jungwoo slightly grinding down on his lap, trying to get some kind of friction going. 

Dongyoung grabs Jungwoo’s backside in order to stop him, Jungwoo lets out a needy whine and he almost feels bad about stopping this.

“Jungwoo, baby, lets go home.”

Jungwoo looks into Dongyoung’s eyes, and understands the implication of his words.

“Okay Dongyoung, let’s go home.”

They walk out of the building through the front door, although there were less reporters than there was when he and Taeyong arrived, you could only get rid of so many.

they were immediately met with cameras flashing, reporters desperately trying to kept answers to their dying questions.

Dongyoung grabs Jungwoo by the hand and leads him to where his car is parked. The reporters eat it up, but the two lovers are too involved with each other to give a fuck about what they may think.

Dongyoung turns on the car and starts making his way to his home. Jungwoo kisses him at red lights, teasing him a little more each time and making it harder to pull away.

When they pull up to Dongyoung’s house, he takes Jungwoo’s hand into his. 

“Baby boy, I need to know if you’re okay with this. I won’t do anything unless you’re 100% okay with it.” 

Jungwoo gives him an innocent look, “didn’t you say that you wanted me to get acquainted with those kinks of yours?”

This leads to Dongyoung walking out of the car, going over to Jungwoo’s side, opening to door, and then throwing Jungwoo over his shoulder and carrying him inside.

Jungwoo’s laugh is all that can be heard across the empty street, or at least they thought it was empty. Jungwoo looks around and spots someone hiding in the bushes with their camera ready. Jungwoo might as well try to look cute if this is going to be on the news tomorrow.

He smiles and throws a peace sign up as the camera flashes and Dongyoung gets the door open and crosses the threshold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think you all know whats coming next ;) ;) ;)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE CHAPTER WHERE THEY F**K BUT WITH EMOTIONS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is currently 2 AM where I live YIKES anyways this took me so long I'm sorry writing smut was always a bit more difficult for me ngfnhgnhnngn anyways hope you all like it!!!

The media is buzzing.

“CEO Kim Dongyoung seen walking out of his office with his male college student lover-unprofessionalism in the workplace?”

“CEO Kim Dongyoung seen walking into his home carrying his young lover: picture details below”

“Kim Jungwoo-the young face that has captured CEO Kim Dongyoung’s, and the world’s, heart”

“Woman spotted with CEO Kim Dongyoung confirmed to be his cousin-not a lover”

News outlets were furiously grasping at straws trying to make something out of the situation. Are they both confirming their relationship by being so open? Was it a marketing ploy?

They were running in circles trying to figure them out.

-

However, the night was silent for the two lovers. Except for their laughter that bounced off the walls of the hallways as Dongyoung carried Jungwoo into his bedroom. They could worry about the media tomorrow, tonight was just for the two of them making up for the time they could’ve spent together as true lovers instead of struggling as pining fools.

Dongyoung gets to his bedroom and lays Jungwoo gently on the bed, he wanted to take care of him tonight. He wanted to make it all up to him. Dongyoung wanted to kiss away the sadness that Jungwoo had felt when they were apart, and show him how precious he was. 

Dongyoung looked down at Jungwoo and saw him give him the softest smile, he’s really missed the way that his heart picks up the pace from it, “Jungwoo let me do all the work tonight, you just sit back and relax. I’ll make you feel so good baby boy.” Jungwoo pouted, “What if I don’t want to just sit back and relax? What if I want to make you feel good too?” He let his voice get a bit breathy at the end, making it hard for Dongyoung to even process what Jungwoo just said properly. He was going to be the death of him. “What’s up with you all of a sudden hm?” Dongyoung removed his suit jacket and his shoes before climbing onto the bed and moving over Jungwoo, their faces so close in proximity that they were sharing breaths, “maybe I was being serious when I wanted to bring out those kinks of yours, you’re always so put together and gentlemanly. I wanna know what you’re like when you lose control Dongyoung.” 

So Dongyoung let himself go, just a little bit. There was always a next time for them to explore different things with each other, which made him feel so lucky that he was able to share his life now with someone so beautiful and so precious, yet always keeping him on his toes with his sassiness and energy. “You’ll make me feel good by obeying to what I said.” He still tried to keep himself collected, he wanted to see how far Jungwoo would go.

Jungwoo tried to give Dongyoung an innocent look, but they both knew that he would never give up a fight so easily, “make me.” 

His answer came in the form of a rough kiss, both Dongyoung and Jungwoo fighting to have the upper hand over the other. Dongyoung ran his hands down Jungwoo’s chest and then up his shirt, feeling the soft skin of his stomach. Jungwoo reached his hands up and around Dongyoung’s neck, clinging onto to him and occasionally running his hands through his hair and lightly tugging on it. Dongyoung responded by sucking on Jungwoo’s lower lip, making him gasp and giving Dongyoung the opportunity to slip his tongue into his mouth. As Dongyoung stroked the inside of Jungwoo’s mouth, his hands went up his chest to lightly stroke across his nipples. He could feel the way Jungwoo shivered at his touch, and Dongyoung pulled away for just a second as he removed Jungwoo’s shirt altogether. When their lips met again, Jungwoo took in Dongyoung’s lower lip between his teeth, making him groan. However, Dongyoung was determined to win in the end. Now with the shirt out of the way, Dongyoung began teasing Jungwoo’s nipples even more. 

He abruptly pulled away from Dongyoung’s kiss to let out a long, drawn out moan. His grip loosening around Dongyoung’s neck as he became more pliant under his touch. Dongyoung saw this as his opportunity to do what he’s been wanting too since Jungwoo decided to become more defiant. He moved to grab Jungwoo’s arms and pin them above his head with one hand as he loosened his tie with the other. Before Jungwoo knew it, he felt the soft material of the tie binding his wrists together, not too tight but secure enough to keep him from breaking the bind. Jungwoo felt heat crawl up his face and down his neck as he laid there out for Dongyoung to do what he desired. He could feel the arousal build up in his lower abdomen and his pants begin to feel a bit more suffocated. 

“Is this okay Jungwoo?”

“It would be if you took off my pants now.”

Dongyoung laughed, “not yet baby boy, I’m not done treating you yet.” Jungwoo whined, which Dongyoung quickly made it turn into a soft moan as he moved in to kiss down Jungwoo’s neck. He could feel him sucking on the marks that he left earlier and also move around to leave new ones as well. Jungwoo loved that Dongyoung was taking things slow, but he needed something. He tried to grind up against Dongyoung’s thigh and he was quickly stopped by two hands pinning his hips to the bed, “be a good boy for me Jungwoo, trust me when I say that I’m going to take care of you.”

Dongyoung moved down, placing kisses along Jungwoo’s collar bones and his chest, eventually circling his lips around a nipple. He began to lightly suck and Jungwoo squirmed in his grasp, trying to grasp onto something but being unable to with his hands being bound above his head. “Ah! Dongyoung, please.” Jungwoo’s moans and pleas made Dongyoung suck a bit harder which resulted in his voice becoming higher pitched. One of Dongyoung’s hands held himself upright while the other came up to tweak at Jungwoo’s other nipple.

All that can be heard in the room was Jungwoo’s loud moans, he was this worked up all from having his nipples played with. He couldn’t imagine how he was going to be a couple of minutes when Dongyoung finally stopped teasing him.

“Dongyoung please touch me, anything. I promise I’ll be good for you.”

He detached himself from Jungwoo’s nipples so that he could hold his face in his hands, “I know you will, you look so beautiful right now. I can’t wait to make you mine.”

Dongyoung decides to end the teasing there, they both have done enough waiting tonight. He unbuttons Jungwoo’s pants and pulls them off, leaving him in his black boxer briefs. Dongyoung then goes to remove his shirt and dress pants, just to make it fair. He can feel Jungwoo’s eyes on him, his stare full of love and desire. “Do you look what you see baby boy?”

“I do.” Jungwoo then looks down to Dongyoung’s bulge in his underwear and realizes that he’s just as worked up as he is. “You’re so hard Dongyoung, is that all because of me?” Jungwoo knows it is, but he wants to hear the praise coming from Dongyoung’s mouth. “Yes baby, you’re so beautiful, so sensitive, it makes me want to be inside you so bad.”

“Then stop wasting time and fuck me already” 

Dongyoung kisses Jungwoo’s forehead, a gesture so sweet and so soft in contrast to what they were about to do. He moved over to the bedside table so that he could get the lube and condoms. “Dongyoung hurry up.” Jungwoo was lucky he was so cute, “rush me again and I’ll just take longer.” 

He meant that to be a lighthearted tease, his only intention was to mess with Jungwoo a bit; but he was clearly on another wavelength where his objective was to drive Dongyoung up the wall as much as possible. 

“Okay, sir.”

Dongyoung may have almost fallen over the edge of the bed as he was getting out the lube and condoms, but he would never admit to it if asked. 

He moved in between Jungwoo’s legs again, setting everything aside for the moment. Dongyoung grabbed onto the outside of on of Jungwoo’s thighs as he attached his lips to the inside of it, lightly sucking on the soft and pale skin and leaving even more marks behind. He could hear Jungwoo try to suppress his moans, occasionally letting a few slip out when Dongyoung lightly nipped at the sensitive skin. He made his way down his thighs and moved up to leave light kisses along his hip bones as he began to pull down Jungwoo’s briefs. He saw that Jungwoo was already worked up so much, his cock leaking pre cum at the tip, and Dongyoung felt a surge of arousal as he knew that he was this way because of him, and him alone. “Baby boy you’re trying to be a brat here but in reality you’re so worked up you’re about to cum before we’ve even gotten to the best part.” Dongyoung pulled Jungwoo’s underwear off completely, “I’m only being a brat because you’re being to slow-oh my gosh.” His response was ended shortly as Dongyoung took Jungwoo’s cock into his mouth, caught by surprise. He sucked a bit at the tip before he made his way down and licked up the underside of Jungwoo’s cock before finally sinking down again. Jungwoo tried to move his hands, but once again was restricted by the tie holding his wrists together. His back began to arch as Dongyoung continued working his mouth on him, his moans coming in more frequently and louder as Jungwoo finally got what he had wanted. 

“Dongyoung, stop, I’m going to cum soon if you don’t.”

Dongyoung pulled off of him and looked up at him, “do you not want to cum, baby?”

He felt his face flush a deeper shade of red, his confidence only holding out for so long, “I don’t want to cum without you, I want to cum with you...inside me”

“Well if that’s what my baby boy wants, then I guess I can’t argue with that.”

Dongyoung gave Jungwoo another soft kiss before he grabbed the lube.

“Tell me if it hurts too much and I’ll stop, okay? I want to make you only feel good tonight.”

Jungwoo nodded and Dongyoung proceeded to pour some onto his fingers and warming it up a bit before he pressed one against Jungwoo’s entrance. He slowly worked his finger in, letting Jungwoo get used to the sensation a bit before putting in another. Dongyoung moved in to kiss Jungwoo again in order to distract him a bit from the pain he knew that he was feeling, the kiss getting messier as he picked up the pace of his fingers and began to spread them out a bit. Jungwoo’s moans were swallowed by Dongyoungs kiss, and in a sudden urge to feel closer to him, he moved his bound hands to come around Dongyoung’s neck and hold him close. Dongyoung slowly added a third finger, being cautious to not move to fast and accidentally hurt Jungwoo. He feels him stiffen a bit at the stretch, but Dongyoung moves his mouth down to place soft kisses along his neck in order to get him to relax again. He picks up the pace of his fingers again, looking for the spot that’ll make Jungwoo lose his mind. 

The second that Jungwoo’s moans rise in pitch and volume, Dongyoung knows that he’s succeeded. Jungwoo is wriggling under him from the sensation, not wanting to cum yet but finding it increasingly difficult to hold back as Dongyoung continues to massage his prostate. 

“I’m ready Dongyoung, I don’t think I’ll last any longer with you touching me like this.”

He wants to keep on teasing Jungwoo, seeing how far he can take him before he goes off the edge, but he decides to give in; because at this point he’s still in his briefs and aching for release. Dongyoung moves away from Jungwoo as he removes his fingers and begins to pull his briefs off. Once those join the rest of his clothes on the floor, He rolls on a condom and gets in between Jungwoo’s legs again. “How do you want it? Do you want to be on your back or on your knees?”

“I want to see you Dongyoung, I want to see you feel good inside of me.”

Again, Dongyoung could not argue when Jungwoo was asking him so nicely.

He began to slowly push into him, raising Jungwoo’s leg up so he could kiss the inside of his calf. Once he was fully inside of Jungwoo, he lets Jungwoo adjust to his length. However, Jungwoo wasn’t having any of that and began to move his hips in order to get some kind of relief. 

“I thought I told you to let me back and take care of things baby boy?” Dongyoung pinned Jungwoo’s bound wrists to the bed as he began to thrust into him. Jungwoo threw his head back and bared his throat, putting all the marks that Dongyoung left on him on display. Some were less prominent than others, but the ones that did stick out were deep shades of red and purple. With his hand that wasn’t holding Jungwoo down to the bed, he moved it to hold his face in his hands so that he could kiss him over and over again as he picked up the pace. The bed frame was knocking into the wall and Jungwoo was glad that they weren’t doing this at the apartment, the noise complaints they would get from him being so loud and the constant knocking against the wall would be endless. 

“Look at you baby, you’re so gorgeous. I can’t believe I got so lucky to have someone as precious as you baby boy.”

Jungwoo could feel tears begin to well up, the praise and the pleasure becoming overwhelming.

“All these marks all over your beautiful skin, the world is going to know that your mine. You’re all mine.”

Jungwoo tried to find some form of response but he ended up choking out a moan as Dongyoung hit against his prostate and made his vision fog up a bit from pleasure. He felt himself getting closer with every movement and every sugar coated word that came out of Dongyoung’s mouth. The time they spent apart and afraid of the magnitude of their feelings, was being made up right now. Jungwoo had the man he loved above me, telling him how beautiful he was and treating him as if he was the most precious object in the world. 

They both were happy that they didn’t let the other go for good.

“I love you Jungwoo, I love you so much.” Dongyoung could feel himself getting closer and he began hitting Jungwoo’s prostate so that they could both cum together like he wanted.

“Dongyoung...I’m getting close, Can I cum please?”

“Yes baby boy, cum for me.”

Jungwoo’s pleas and the way that he could feel him tightening up around him was enough for him to spill over the edge. Jungwoo let out a long winded moan as he spilled across his stomach and Dongyoung rode out his orgasm until he could see his lover wince from overstimulation. He leaned down to press kisses along Jungwoo’s cheeks and his temple before he pulled out and tossed the condom. He untied Jungwoo and the minute he was freed he clung to Dongyoung. If Jungwoo was the type to become clingy after sex, Dongyoung was going to have a hard time getting the both of them cleaned up, “baby let me get a towel so I can clean us up at least okay?” Jungwoo buried his face into Dongyoung’s neck and whined. Regardless, he still got up and got a clean rag from the bathroom so that he could wipe down Jungwoo before they got too sleepy. 

Dongyoung helped get the both of them under the covers and he felt Jungwoo wrap his arms around his waist lean his head against his chest. He kissed the top of his head and began to rub his back, “I love you Jungwoo.”

“I love you too Dongyoung.”

*****

The next morning, Jungwoo fell on his ass trying to get up to use the bathroom. All Dongyoung saw was Jungwoo crumple to the floor cursing his name for making him too sore to walk on his own. 

So Dongyoung helped him get to where he needed, and then they both took a bath together. Jungwoo was feeling himself fall into a dream like state with the way that Dongyoung would massage the shampoo in his scalp and get rid of the knots in his back. He liked the way that he took his time to take care of Jungwoo’s body, it made him nearly melt into the floor. 

After the bath water went cold, they got dressed and Dongyoung proceeded to cook them breakfast.

“You should call Mark and tell him where you are I can imagine that he’s worried about you.”

“Oh yeah about that,” Jungwoo hesitated a bit, “I don’t have my phone right now because the news outlets kept calling and emailing me so I gave it to Mark so it could be out of sight. Anyways, I’m pretty sure he just needs to turn on his TV to know where I am.”

Jungwoo wasn’t wrong in the slightest, but Dongyoung did let Jungwoo borrow his phone so that he could tell Mark that he was coming home after he finished having breakfast with him. 

Their morning together felt so domestic, so peaceful. After the stress and loneliness of the past few weeks, their time together was a breath of fresh air. A reminder to the both of them that they almost lost list, if it weren’t for Taeyong’s intervention, they would have never know what would’ve become of their relationship. The both of them left in an eternal hell of “what if’s”. 

Dongyoung could never repay Taeyong back for this, but he would try his best to by never letting Jungwoo go again.

He learned his lesson now.

Jungwoo looked so precious dressed in one of Dongyoung’s pajama shirts and a pair of loose shorts. He just wanted to scoop him up and take him to bed again, if they lived in a world free of responsibilities and obligations; Dongyoung was sure that he would spend every minute of it showing Jungwoo all the ways that he was special to him. 

*****

Jungwoo was back at the apartment now, Dongyoung dropped him off just a few minutes ago. 

There were reporters waiting for them outside, prepared to take pictures of the couple for the latest story. 

Jungwoo consideres covering up the several marks that Dongyoung left him with on his neck. In the end saying “fuck it” and letting the reporters have a field day with all the hickeys Dongyoung gave him. If they weren’t sure of their relationship then, there was no doubt about it now.

He had gotten his phone back from Mark, after Lucas spent a good 20 minutes asking him if they did “the nasty” or not and Mark preventing Lucas from pressing him any further by smacking him upside the head. 

Jungwoo waiting for the notifications to stop rolling in, his email inbox must be an absolute nightmare now. It would probably never recover after what the news outlets put it through. He saw that he had several missed calls from the news outlets as well, along with voicemails asking if he had time to spare for an interview. Jungwoo deleted every single one and then began to look through his messages.

There was a message from a strange number he did not recognize at the top.

“Stay away from Dongyoung if you know what’s good for you”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "honey, you got a big storm coming"


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jungwoo Protection Squad, introduction of a new character, and a midnight phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am with another update! you may notice that I've updated the chapter amount. Yes, there will be 20 chapters in total, this includes an epilogue as well. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thank you all for your support I appreciate it so much especially now with how stressful school is getting :( reading your thoughts always makes my day a bit better :')

Jungwoo immediately calls for Mark and Lucas after reading the message, needing to be around his friends in order to calm down. Lucas walks him to his bed so that Jungwoo can sit down and he holds him against his right side. Mark has gone to get Jungwoo a glass of water.

Jungwoo clutches onto Lucas as he tries to slow down his breathing, focusing on the rhythmic motions of Lucas rubbing his back to ground his mind onto something other than the text message. Mark walks back into the room with a glass of water for Jungwoo and his laptop in his other hand. He let’s Jungwoo finish and catch his breath before he speaks again.

“Let me see the number, I’m going to try to reverse look up the phone number to see if we can get some kind of idea of who this person is.” Jungwoo hands him his phone and Mark begins to type in the number. 

“I can’t get any other information on this number other than a vague location. At least we know that this person is local, but other than that I don’t know who it could possibly be there's a ton of people that live here.”

Lucas squeezes Jungwoo’s shoulder, “you need to tell Dongyoung about this.”

“I agree Lucas.”

Jungwoo shakes his head, “no I can’t tell him about this right now, I know for sure he’s going to rush over here and this person could possibly be stalking Dongyoung. If they see that he’s going over here he might hurt him and I don’t want that.” 

Lucas sighs and Mark kneels in front of Jungwoo, “look, I know that you’re really scared right now. We are all worried about you right now, but you need to tell Dongyoung about this. Do not hide this from him, he might be worse off if you do. At least if you tell him he’ll know to keep his guard up.”

Jungwoo’s phone goes off again. Mark grabs it and unlocks it for Jungwoo.

“Dongyoung is mine. You’re just a phase to him, once he realizes that, he’ll come running to me.” Mark reads out loud. “This person most likely won’t hurt Dongyoung, they seem to be obsessed with him. However you are at risk here. Call Dongyoung right now.”

Jungwoo dials Dongyoung with shaky hands.

“Hey baby, how is everything?”

Jungwoo’s voice trembles, “someone’s threatening me, sending me text messages saying to stay away from you if I know what’s good for me and that I’m just a phase to you. I’m so scared Dongyoung I don’t know what to do.”  
“Are Mark and Lucas with you right now?”

“Yes they’re the ones that told me to call you.”

“Okay baby, put me on speaker okay? I want to talk to all of you about this.”

Jungwoo puts the phone on speaker and sets it in his lap.

“I can assume that you all realize how serious the situation is, right?”

Lucas and Mark answer affirmatively. “Okay, what we need to do know is set up a plan. Jungwoo is being threatened and we don’t know if this person intends to just scare him or kill him. When Jungwoo goes out, he needs at least one of you with him to keep this person away.”

“What if when our schedules don’t match up? We already don’t have the same school schedules.” Lucas asks.

Mark speaks up, “Jungwoo could maybe text one of us where he’s going and when he’s just left and then send another text when he’s arrived so we know that he got there okay.”

“I think that’s a good idea, do you have anything else to add Jungwoo?”

“I hate that I have to do this now, but what else is there left?”

They all say their goodbyes and Dongyoung tells Jungwoo that he loves him and to be safe.

Jungwoo goes to bed that night, unable to fall asleep. Afraid that if he does, he’ll have a nightmare.

*****

It’s been a tiring week for Jungwoo.

He feels like he can’t relax for a minute, he’s terrified that if he lets his guard down even for a second he’s going to come face to face with his stalker.

Lucas, Mark, and Dongyoung have been incredibly supportive of him this entire week. They’ve taken turns sleeping next to Jungwoo so that he can at least have a few hours of rest. He’s only woken up from a nightmare once, and Mark was ready to help him with a cup of tea to relax him.

Jungwoo is currently in between Dongyoung’s legs, laying against his chest as they both sit on the couch watching a movie together. He had Mark drop him off an hour ago and the both of them have just taken the time to relax and get away from the stressful situation. Jungwoo’s focus on the movie was going in and out, the rising and falling Dongyoung’s chest and the hand carding through his hair was enough to lull him to sleep. Commercials roll in, and Jungwoo decides to close his eyes for a bit.

The commercial shifts into a breaking news story before it goes into the movie again. He wouldn’t have paid the story any mind, but he feels Dongyoung tense up a bit and decides to look at the screen.

There’s an interviewer sitting with an older man, he looks to be around the same age as Dongyoung.

The interviewer introduces the man as Jung Jaehyun, another CEO of a business in town. They start off with basic questions about his current work and how his life is at the moment. He doesn’t understand why Dongyoung would react the way he did, this man seems pretty harmless. 

The interviewer speaks up again, “I don’t know how on top of things you are, but I’m sure you’ve seen the news about Kim Dongyoung and his new boyfriend who’s rather young!”

Jaehyun laughs, “oh yeah I’ve seen that, honestly I applaud him for being so unapologetic about it. I find myself a little jealous of him for scoring someone so cute. If Dongyoung hadn’t staked his claim on him I would’ve definitely tried to snatch him for myself.”

Dongyoung grumbles into Jungwoo’s hair, “this attention seeking bastard, he’s only pulling this shit to stir the pot and get the spotlight on himself for a few minutes. He’s only going to have the media more involved with us.”

Jungwoo watches as the interviewer continues, “wow that’s pretty bold of you to confess like that on television, let’s hope that the couple isn’t watching this from home.”

Well too late for that.

“Anyways, will you be attending the annual charity dinner at the hall downtown?”

Jaehyun answers, “yes I will be attending as I have done for the past 4 years. I hope to see Dongyoung there as well. Maybe he’ll let me talk to his cutie for a few minutes.”

Jungwoo is too distracted by the mention of the charity dinner to be irritated at what Jaehyun just said, “are you really going to take me Dongyoung?”

“I was considering it, but if he’s just plotting to harass you then I’d rather not subject you to that.”

Jungwoo turns around to give a light peck on dongyoung’s cheek, “No you have to take me now! We can show him how in love we are and he’ll see that he doesn’t stand a chance.”

Dongyoung responds by tackling Jungwoo down and kissing him silly.

Jungwoo laughs in between kisses, he feels really happy to be in this moment with his boyfriend.

When Dongyoung ends his onslaught of kisses Jungwoo asks if he can stay the night.

“Oh, are you trying to say something by that Jungwoo?” Dongyoung gets a pillow to the face. “I MEANT TO SLEEP I HAVE SCHOOL IN THE MORNING”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t have fun.”

“I prefer being able to walk up the stairs tomorrow, Mark and Lucas still tease me about it you know!”

-

It’s around midnight when Jungwoo is woken up by his phone vibrating loudly on the bedside table.

He doesn’t know who would have the audacity to call him now, Dongyoung was sober and sleeping soundly beside him so it wasn’t him. His only other guess would be Lucas asking where something in the house was.

Jungwoo picks up the phone without looking to see who it is, “look Lucas, you can’t just go around calling people late at night some of us are sleeping with our boyfriends you know.”

“I thought I told you to stay away Jungwoo.”

That was definitely not Lucas.  
Dongyoung stirs and wraps his arm around Jungwoo’s waist, “who is it baby?”

“Don’t tell Dongyoung it’s me, or else.”

Jungwoo doesn’t even have to say anything as Dongyoung notices right away that something is very wrong with how Jungwoo begins to shake. Dongyoung takes the phone away from Jungwoo, “who the hell is this? Why are you doing this? Leave Jungwoo alone!” 

The person on the other line just laughs and hangs up the phone.

Jungwoo is shaking and crying at this point. Dongyoung pulls him in for a hug and holds him tight against his chest, letting Jungwoo cry it out.

“Dongyoung, I’m so scared.”

“I know baby, I know. I’m not going to let them lay a single hand on you. I’ll make them regret it for the rest of their shitty lives if they ever try to hurt you.”

Jungwoo does his best to calm down his breathing as Dongyoung continues to stroke his hair and place gentle kisses on his forehead.

“Even if it gets dangerous for the both of us, I’m not going to leave you Jungwoo. I’m not going to make that mistake again. If they threaten you then they threaten me too because you are my love and if anything ever happened to you I don’t know what I would do without you.”

jungwoo clings onto dongyoung even more, “we’ll both get to the bottom of this, and when we find out who they are, they’re going to regret ever threatening you. My wish since the beginning has been to have you feel safe. And now, more than ever before, I think that’s the one thing you need the most.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuta steps in, Dongyoung and Jungwoo proceed to be too in love with each other, Ten is done with the both of them.
> 
> and unknown is back on their bullshit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not being as active as usual I have had a few days of resting after a stressful week, but here's an update! I hope you all enjoy it :)
> 
> We are now halfway done! I am so excited for what's to come and I hope you guys are as well-there's gonna be A LOT happening soon. I never thought I would write something this long so I'm just always so happy when working on this fanfic it is a huge stress reliever for me :)
> 
> if you want to talk about NCT or anything at all with me come follow me on twitter @NCTens_baby (I just recently changed my username hehehehe)

After Dongyoung drops Jungwoo off on campus with a kiss goodbye, he makes his way to the office. 

He’s hoping that maybe Taeyong could help him out with this in some way. 

After the person hung up the phone, it took a while before Jungwoo was able to fall asleep again. His level of anxiety had him trembling so much that it hurt Dongyoung’s heart to see him so afraid. Jungwoo always acted strong, even if there was a lot of different issues going on. However this was the first time Jungwoo just gave in. This person’s goal was to break down Jungwoo in every way possible. 

He had to stop this before it got to that point.

Dongyoung spots Taeyong at his desk and tells him to join him in his office for a second. Taeyong follows and settles himself on one of the chairs in his office. “So what’s up Dongyoung? Do you need me to plot someone against Jaehyun? He was saying some shit the other day.”

“Oh god don’t remind me, me and Jungwoo saw it together. He really doesn’t stop involving himself in every situation. That’s not why I wanted to talk to you though, Jaehyun is the least of my worries right now.”

Taeyong sits back and tells Dongyoung to go on.

“Someone’s been threatening Jungwoo. They send him messages telling him to stay away from me and last night they called him at midnight telling him that they know he isn’t listening. So basically he’s being stalked and we have no idea who this person could be.”

“Holy shit. How long has this been going on for? Why are you just telling me this now?” 

“Last week was when the person sent the first message, I’ve been stressed about Jungwoo’s safety a lot lately so it passed my mind.”

Taeyong stands up and makes his way to the door, “hold up, I’m not too technically advanced for this but I know someone that is.”

He runs off for about 5 minutes and comes back dragging in Yuta behind him, “Yuta here is pretty good with stuff like this, maybe he could be of more use?”

Yuta chimes in, “it might take me a bit longer than usual because if this person really doesn’t want to be found out, they’ll probably do the most that they can to cover their tracks. I’ll do my best though.”

“Don’t stress yourself out about it Yuta, I’ll appreciate any help. I just want to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible so that Jungwoo can finally be at peace again.”

No one says anything for a few moments.

“You really love him, don’t you?” Yuta asked.

“Yeah, I really do.”

Dongyoung thinks back to how things have been the past week. They’re most recent dates have mostly been at home with the both of them cuddling on the couch and watching a movie. Jungwoo has been too scared to go anywhere in public because they never know if the person will be around them or not. The times that Dongyoung has stopped by at a convenience store to get some snacks they’ll need at home, Jungwoo clings to his side and constantly looks around him. There is never a moment where Jungwoo is relaxed when they are in public, either he’s constantly looking around in the crowd for someone acting suspiciously or his mind is elsewhere, probably tormenting with “what if” scenarios. Jungwoo’s entire life was being consumed by fear and Dongyoung hated to see him so miserable and afraid to live his own life. He did the best he could to make sure that Jungwoo felt relaxed when they were at his home, but the minute Jungwoo walked outside the fear would hit him like a tidal wave. 

Whoever this person was, they were going to pay for hurting Jungwoo like this.

*****

A few days go by with no activity from the unknown person, but that doesn’t mean that Jungwoo feels comfortable enough to let his guard down. Although he is able to relax a bit, the people closest to him can see that he is still very much afraid of what could happen.

Recently, one of his professors assigned a pair project. Jungwoo was nervous that whoever he got paired up with would make comments about his relationship with Dongyoung, but his partner Dong Sicheng has been very kind to him. They had never had a proper conversation before and Jungwoo regrets not getting to know him sooner because they immediately got along well with each other. Jungwoo finds out that he and Sicheng have their classes relatively close to each other so they begin to walk together. He feels safer on campus now that he doesn’t have to move around anywhere on his own. The project has really helped Jungwoo get back to a somewhat normal routine, he’s definitely gone out in public more to meet up with Sicheng out of class to work on their project and he enjoys his company. Sicheng is someone that Jungwoo feels relaxed around and although they joke around a lot, they’ve really been productive with their assignment. 

Right now, Jungwoo is with Sicheng at the library adding the finishing touches to their project. They are both impressed with themselves for finishing the assignment so quick and are glad to get it out of the way. After this, Jungwoo is getting picked up by Dongyoung so that he can get a suit fitted for the annual dinner. 

“Are we ready to hit submit, Jungwoo?” Sicheng asks him.

Jungwoo gives the powerpoint one last check, “I’m not sure yet, we still have a couple days before we have to turn it in.”

“Thats understandable, do you want to look at it on your own and then meet up another day to make sure everything’s okay and then submit it?” bless Sicheng for being an actual angel. “Yeah, let’s do that. Thank you for being such a good partner I’m glad that we got paired up together.”

Sicheng smiles at him, “I’m glad that our feelings are mutual.”

*****

After Jungwoo waves goodbye to Sicheng, he starts making his way to the parking lot so that they can go get his suit fitted. Jungwoo was a bit nervous, but Dongyoung told him that they were going with a friend of his that’s been in charge of all his suits for years. He told him that Ten was someone that they could both trust, so Jungwoo tried to get himself to feel more comfortable. He spots Dongyoung’s car and rushes over. 

Jungwoo open’s the passenger side door and gets settled in. Before Dongyoung starts the car he leans in and gives him a quick peck on the cheek, “I missed you, Dongyoung.”

“I was just on the phone with you this morning?”

“I’ll take my kiss back thank you very much.”

Dongyoung reaches over the wrap his arms around Jungwoo who tries to deny his affections by closing himself up, “aww Jungwoo I’m just messing with you.” He starts planting kisses wherever he can, “I missed you too baby.”

He tries to look mad, but Jungwoo is visibly flustered by Dongyoung’s affection, “I guess you’re forgiven...this time.”

Dongyoung ruffles his hair and gives Jungwoo one last kiss before he starts up the car and makes his way out of the parking lot. 

-

They’re driving down the freeway, a song that Donyoung doesn’t recognize is playing on the radio and he can hear Jungwoo singing along softly. 

“How was your day today?”

The singing stops as Jungwoo responds, “it was good, Sicheng and I finished our project early but we’re gonna meet up some other day to submit it just to give ourselves time to look at it on our own.” 

Dongyoung is glad that Jungwoo seems to be a bit less panicked these past few days. “Your classmate has really helped in more ways than you think, I’ll have to meet him myself and give him my thanks.”

“Thank him for what exactly?”

“Ever since the project started, you’ve been more willing to go out and just socialize with others. I know that it’s been a really hard time for you lately and just seeing you more relaxed is all I could ever ask for. I hate seeing you so sad and afraid, I want the person I love to always be happy.” 

Dongyoung feels Jungwoo take his hand into both of his. He realizes that he just said something a bit heavy on the emotions, but Dongyoung felt that Jungwoo needed to know this. Jungwoo begins to play with his fingers and he turns to see Jungwoo looking at him fondly.

“I want to make out. Now.”

Dongyoung panics, “Jungwoo. I’m going nearly 70 on the fast lane.”

Jungwoo puts Dongyoung’s hand up to his face and pouts, “so you don’t want me?”

“No! That’s not what I said I just don’t want to cause an accident-Jungwoo please sit back down.” He had begun to climb out of his seat so that he could get closer to Dongyoung, clearly not listening to what he had just said. He feels Jungwoo’s breath tickle his neck as he starts lightly kissing up his neck.

The fact that they make it to the suit shop in one piece is a miracle.

*****

“Long time no see Dongyoung.”

“Ten we saw each other last week,” Dongyoung had walked in with Jungwoo clinging onto him by the arm. 

Ten ignores Dongyoung’s statement and turns to Jungwoo, “I can’t believe I finally get to meet you Jungwoo! Has Dongyoung been like this lately?”

“Oh yeah, he wouldn’t make out with me earlier, even when I asked nicely,” Jungwoo looks up at Dongyoung and pouts about it as if he was completely innocent.

He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, “for the last time Jungwoo, I was on the fast lane of the freeway-” Ten interjects, “so? One time I gave Johnny-”

“I don’t want to hear what you and Johnny did, and don’t get any funny ideas Jungwoo I can see the both of you smirking at each other.” Jungwoo looked like he was conspiring all the ways he could make Dongyoung age faster. “Anyways, Jungwoo needs to get fitted for a suit. I trust you to get something that’ll suit him the best.”

“I’m already on it, come on Jungwoo let me get your measurements and we can talk more!”

Ten grabs Jungwoo by the arm and the both of them walk to the fitting room talking animatedly, as if they haven't just met each other 5 minutes ago. Dongyoung follows, because he wants to have a peaceful drive home.

-

Ten pulls back the curtain, “what do you think about this one Dongyoung? I personally think it suits his dark hair it makes him look sophisticated, but his cute face still lets you know that it’s him.”

Dongyoung looked up from the couch he was sitting on and he felt his heart skip a beat. He knew he could trust Ten, Jungwoo was still looking at himself in the mirror next to him to fix his hair; but Dongyoung could see the way the dark pants were fitted to compliment is long legs. It was a classic black suit, but on Jungwoo, it made him look so precious. 

Jungwoo turned to look at him and gave him the widest smile, “Do you like it Dongyoung? Ten made me try two others but I like this one the most.” 

“If you like it, then I’ll get it for you. Whatever you want is okay with me baby.” Jungwoo beamed and gave Ten a tight hug before he made his way towards Dongyoung to give him a kiss on the cheek. Ten looked at the couple fondly, their happiness was extremely contagious and he was glad that the two of them found each other. “I’ll go make the preparations to have the suit delivered to your house as always. Don’t ruin the suit while I’m gone.” Ten gave them a wink as he walked out.

Jungwoo sat down next to Dongyoung and leaned his head down to rest on his shoulder. Dongyoung brought his arm up around him and kissed the top of his head softly, ever since they started dating Jungwoo had definitely let himself become more physically affectionate with him. Before, he felt that he was always catching Jungwoo by surprise when he complimented him or did as much as hold his hand. However, Dongyoung now found himself with his breath caught in his throat when Jungwoo retaliated. If he complimented Jungwoo, he’d get a kiss square on the mouth-regardless of where they were. The media would have a field day with the amount of pictures they would get of Jungwoo being shamelessly affectionate in public. Dongyoung didn’t mind at all, he was happy that Jungwoo felt comfortable with him enough to drown the rest of the world out and focus on them.

Jungwoo whispered, “can we make out now?”

Who was Dongyoung to deny him now?

-

When Ten came back, he found Jungwoo in Dongyoung’s lap. The both of them were too busy with each other to notice that he had come in.

“Everything’s prepared now, you can get changed back into your other clothes now Jungwoo. I can see that Dongyoung has at least helped you get started with that.” 

Dongyoung jolted up to look at Ten’s teasing face, Jungwoo on the other hand decided to attack his neck and chose to ignore Ten. “Don’t worry, after all the time I’ve worked here I’ve definitely seen worse, and done worse.” Dongyoung wanted to wipe that smirk off of Ten’s face, but he felt Jungwoo’s hand start to creep down his chest and he didn’t trust himself to make a coherent sentence at that moment. 

He was going to start greying within a month if Jungwoo kept this up.

*****

Two days after the suit fitting, there was still no update from Jungwoo’s stalker. None of them could complain about that, Jugnwoo finally felt that he could catch a proper break and live a normal life for the first time in weeks. He didn’t have to constantly watch his back when we did as much as go to the bathroom during class. Mark and Lucas were happy to see him in a happier mood, the atmosphere in the apartment was no longer filled with tension and fear.

Jungwoo thought that he wouldn’t have to deal with his stalker again.

Until the night before the dinner.

He had just gotten out of the shower and was dressed in his favorite pair of soft pajamas when his phone chimed. 

“You’ve been disobeying me Jungwoo. Watch yourself.”

The text message was followed by a picture of Jungwoo and Dongyoung walking out of the suit shop holding hands.

Another one came in.

“You thought you could get comfortable? You should’ve been more afraid about my silence. Maybe we’ll get to meet each other soon, I’ll show you what happens to people that disobey me.”

Jungwoo felt his heart drop into his stomach, his eyes stung and his vision blurred from the tears that were welling up. He knew that things were going too well. Jungwoo felt like a fool for thinking that the stalker was done with him for good.

He immediately calls Dongyoung.

“Dongyoung, they texted me again. I thought that they were done, but theyre telling me to watch myself now. They saw us at the suit shop, they know everything I don’t know what to do I’m so scared. They’re saying that we might meet soon, I don’t want to even think about what they’re going to do to me Dongyoung.” Jungwoo burst into tears after getting out the last sentence. 

“Baby, I’m not going to let them hurt you okay? I need you to calm down for a bit and listen to me. Pack a bag with enough clothes for a few days. I just got out of the office so I’ll be there in about 15 minutes. Let Mark and Lucas know that you’ll be staying with me for a few days.”

When they’re done talking on the phone, Jungwoo begins packing. He tells Mark and Lucas the situation and they all hold each other in the middle of the living room. Mark gives some of the tea he makes Jungwoo when he needs to calm down to him so that he can make it while he stays with Dongyoung, and Lucas helps get Jungwoo’s favorite blanket from the dryer. 

Dongyoung texts him to let him know that he’s parked outside, and with one last hug he makes his way out. 

The air outside was cold, but Jungwoo found himself numb to everything else. All he could feel was the fear that he hadn’t felt in the past week. Jungwoo’s life changed so drastically from one second to the next all because of this unknown stalker. He hated that they held so much power over him. 

The minute that Jungwoo stepped into Dongyoung’s car, he reached for him and clung to his shirt and cried into the soft fabric. He felt one of his hands come up and hold his head to Dongyoung’s chest while the other rubbed circles on his back.

If his stalker planned on meeting him soon, then Jungwoo and Dongyoung were going to be on high alert during the dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a reminder that I love you all and I promise that this fanfic has a happy ending okay bye :)))


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the dinner part 1 :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I just updated like a day ago but I didn't want to keep you all waiting and I am really excited for you all to read this chapter and the next hehehehe.
> 
> Yes, there is smut in this chapter. The plan was for it to be a minimal scene but it escalated and YEAH.
> 
> One last thing, big thanks to my beta reader for helping me out with this chapter they are such a sweet person and I am very thankful :)
> 
> hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

After Jungwoo stopped crying, Dongyoung began to drive them to his home. His phone goes off again and Jungwoo dreads to see who it may be. He grabs onto Dongyoung’s hand that isn’t holding the steering wheel and flips his phone screen up to see who it is.

“Hey Jungwoo do you think we can meet up tomorrow to check over the project one last time?”

It was just Sicheng. Jungwoo lets out the breath he was holding in.

Jungwoo politely tells him that he can’t meet up tomorrow due to personal issues, and Sicheng thankfully doesn’t press the subject any further and respects Jungwoo’s request. He just wants to sleep for 3 days straight, the reemergence of his stalker has emotionally drained him. Jungwoo lets his head rest on the window and the gentle hum of the car engine puts him to sleep. 

-

He’s woken up by Dongyoung gently laying him down in his bed.

“Did I wake you up Jungwoo? I’m sorry, I’ll join you in a bit okay?” 

Dongyoung had noticed that he had stirred awake and gently pulled the covers over him. Jungwoo felt him kiss the top of his head before he walked into the bathroom and got the shower running. The pillows are soft and he feels himself drifting to sleep from the coziness of the blankets. Dongyoung joins him 20 minutes later and wraps his arm around Jungwoo’s waist, placing a last kiss on the back of his neck before they both fall asleep.

*****

The sound of a phone alarm wakes them up. Jungwoo curses himself for not turning it off the night before, the alarm would usually wake him up for his Saturday shift but he had already called for the weekend off so he was up hours before he wanted to for no reason. He moves out of Dongyoung’s arms so that he can shut it off, and the minute he moves away Dongyoung’s hand is already searching for where he went. Jungwoo finds it cute how clingy he is in the morning. 

He sets his phone back down on the nightstand and lets Dongyoung pull him back into his embrace. Jungwoo snuggles into his chest and inhales the smell of him and the clean sheets. Here, in Dongyoung’s arms, Jungwoo feels that he can stay forever. In this moment, everything felt right in the world. If he had the ability to freeze time, he would definitely do it now. They wouldn’t have to deal with what would come later. Jungwoo wouldn’t have to possibly run into his stalker. He could just lay here in bed with the man he loves and not have to watch his back all the time.

“What time do we have to start getting ready?”

“Not now Jungwoo. Let’s just sleep.”

-

Jungwoo wakes up an hour later. Again, Dongyoung is still sleeping soundly next to him; his breath tickling Jungwoo’s ear. He decides that they should at least get up soon so that they can have breakfast and get themselves cleaned up for the dinner. It’s around 11 AM so they still have a long time before they have to leave, but he doesn’t want them to be running around later because they didn’t get prepared earlier. 

Dongyoung doesn’t wake up even after Jungwoo practically shoves him enough to push him near the far edge of the bed. He could be a menace and dump cold water down his shirt, or he could wake him up by other means. Jungwoo decides to go for the latter since he doesn’t think he’ll be able to handle a pouty Dongyoung all day.

He straddles Dongyoung’s waist and begins to press light kisses along his neck. The kisses grow firmer when Jungwoo sees that he is still not waking up, even going as far as biting down on the juncture between his neck and shoulder. It was scary how deep in sleep Dongyoung could be. 

Jungwoo decides to take it a bit further and makes his way down, lifting the bottom of Dongyoung’s shirt to kiss down his stomach and his hip bones. He feels him shiver slightly, but he still doesn’t wake up. He went to sleep in a thin shirt and his boxers, which is convenient for what Jungwoo wants to do. He begins to mouth Dongyoung’s length through the material of his boxers, looking up to see if it stirs any reactions from him. Although his face remains neutral, Jungwoo can feel him hardening in his mouth and he sucks harder. After the material is completely soaked through, Jungwoo pulls the waistband down, letting Dongyoung’s cock free from his boxers. He licks his lips before he takes the tip into his mouth and swirls his tongue around it.

That seemed to do something for Dongyoung. Jungwoo hears him groan in his sleep and lift his hips, chasing the feeling of his mouth on him. He sinks his mouth further down and eventually feels Dongyoung hitting the back of his throat. Jungwoo hollows his cheeks as he makes his way back up, pressing kisses along the side of his cock when he takes him out of his mouth. 

Before Jungwoo can go any further, he feels a hand tangle in his hair and grip onto him. 

“Oh god, Jungwoo, you’re going to be the death of me.”

Jungwoo looks up and sees Dongyoung looking down at him, his cheeks flushed and his other hand pushing back his disheveled hair. He takes Dongyoung into his hand and begins to stroke him, all while tilting his head and giving Jungwoo the most innocent look he possibly could in that situation. “You didn’t wanna wake up, so I had to do something about it.”

Dongyoung covers his face with his hands as he groans and fucks himself into Jungwoo’s hand. He takes him into his mouth again and Jungwoo starts palming himself with his free hand. He feels Dongyoung start to lightly thrust into his mouth and Jungwoo moans around his cock as he goes from palming himself over his boxers to stroking himself. 

Dongyoung tries to lift Jungwoo’s head up and off of him, “J-Jungwoo I’m going to cum soon.”

He doesn’t let him pull him off yet, Jungwoo keeps going and he can feel Dongyoung’s hips start to shake from the intensity of the pleasure. He begins to moan louder as he starts getting closer. Jungwoo continues to stroke himself, wanting to finish at the same time.

That is, until Jungwoo decides to make eye contact with Dongyoung while he’s fucking his mouth and Dongyoung cums down his throat instantly. He does his best to swallow it all up, not wanting to make a mess on the sheets. 

Jungwoo feels himself being pulled into Dongyoung’s lap, his hands are moved to wrap around his neck, “let me take care of you from here baby boy.”

Dongyoung kisses Jungwoo deeply as he strokes him, alternating between speeds. Right when Jungwoo feels he’s about to cum, Dongyoung slows down the pace and it drives him crazy. “Dongyoung stop teasing, I wanna cum now.” 

He takes Jungwoo’s face into his free hand, looking at him in the eyes with a mischievous glint in his eyes, “you were the one that started the teasing first baby, if you keep whining maybe I’ll just take even longer.”

Two could play at that game.

Jungwoo leans in lick along the shell of Dongyoung’s ear and whispers, “I let you cum in my mouth, I was a good boy wasn’t I? Please let me cum Dongyoung.”

In the end, Jungwoo knows how to win over Dongyoung. He begins to stroke him faster, Jungwoo tries to kiss Dongyoung but it ends up getting messier as he moans into his mouth. He lightly runs his nails down Dongyoung’s back, not breaking the skin but definitely leaving angry marks behind. Jungwoo’s breath hitches as he feels himself get close and Dongyoung latches his mouth onto Jungwoo’s throat to suck a mark into his pale skin. With one last stroke, Jungwoo lets out a high pitched moan and paints cum across his stomach. When he’s caught his breath, he pulls Dongyoung in for a proper kiss.

He pulls away, but stays close enough to feel Dongyoung’s breath ghosting his lips.

“Good morning.”

-

“Dongyoung you’re lucky I brought my makeup because otherwise I wouldn’t have any other way to hide the hickey you gave me.”

Jungwoo laughs as a red faced Dongyoung has to apologize to Taeyong on the phone for having to overhear that.

*****

They are an hour into the dinner and Jungwoo is happy to say that everything is going really well. Everyone that he’s met has been nothing but kind to him and is respectful of his relationship with Dongyoung. He gets his fair share of compliments and older women pinching his cheeks and cooing at how adorable he is. Dongyoung can’t help but tease Jungwoo for that afterwards. 

Their plan for the dinner is to stick to each other’s side as much as possible, if the stalker truly is here they can’t take any chances. Jungwoo does his best to look calm as to not raise anyone’s concerns.

The dinner is amazing, Jungwoo’s only had food this good when he goes on fancy dinner dates with Dongyoung. He doesn’t notice it, but his boyfriend has been looking at him fondly all night. Any time someone compliments Jungwoo, Dongyoung can’t help but feel pride in knowing that Jungwoo is all his. Jungwoo looks up at him after shoving a good amount of food into his mouth and he can’t keep himself from kissing Jungwoo on the cheek. 

For all the claims that Jaehyun made about wanting to meet Jungwoo, the both of them haven’t run into him all night. They’re wondering if he even came at this point.

After his fifth glass of the fancy lemonade, Jungwoo excuses himself to the restroom and Dongyoung lets him go with a kiss on his temple.

On his way to the restroom is when Jungwoo finally runs into Jaehyun. “It’s nice to see you here beautiful. I was wondering if Dongyoung would let you be on your own for a few minutes. I doubt he would let me get near you if he was there too.”

Jungwoo is about to pee his pants, he has no time for this, “look Jaehyun, me and Dongyoung are happy together. I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but just know that it’s not going to work. I suggest you go on with your evening and not bother us, okay?” with that, Jungwoo leaves Jaehyun in the hallway of the banquet hall and makes his way to the restroom.

Jungwoo takes care of his business, and decides to stay in the bathroom for a few more minutes to cool off. He finds it weird that Jaehyun just let him off like that, but he isn’t complaining one bit. 

Someone else enters the bathroom and by instinct Jungwoo looks up to see who it is. He’s confused to see someone way too familiar in the reflection of the mirror over the sink.

“Sicheng? What are you doing here-”

He sees Sicheng make a run for him and press a needle into the skin of his neck. Jungwoo pushes him away and tries to make his way to the door, but he’s suddenly feeling too dizzy to keep himself on his feet. Sicheng catches him in his arms before he collapses onto the floor.

“I’m sorry Jungwoo, but I have to do this. He’s paying me a lot of money to have this plan be successful. It just really sucks because I was actually starting to like you. It made sending those texts to you way harder than it had to be.”

The last thing Jungwoo sees is the parking lot of the banquet hall, before everything goes black.

*****

It’s been over half and hour, and Jungwoo still hasn’t returned. Dongyoung feels his panic levels spike and he starts asking around if anyone has seen him.

When he fails to get answers, he starts to make his way towards the restrooms himself. As he’s walking down the hall, he sees someone dash out and cage him against the wall. Dongyoung tries to shove the person off, but they just grab him by the arms and pin him against the wall.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing Jaehyun?”

“I’m taking you for myself, now that I got Jungwoo out of the way.”

Dongyoung begins to try to wriggle his arms out of Jaehyun’s grasp, “what do you mean by that? Where’s Jungwoo? What did you do to him Jaehyun!?”

Jaehyun smirks, “he’s somewhere where he can’t interfere with our love anymore.”

Dongyoung’s blood goes cold.

The stalker. They wanted to take him for themselves.

“You fucker, I can’t believe you were the one threatening Jungwoo like this.” Dongyoung kicks Jaehyun near his groin and manages to get him to loosen his grip enough to escape. “Technically I didn’t do it, I had a little help from Jungwoo’s little project partner who needed some extra cash desperately. It was all too easy.”

Dongyoung punches Jaehyun’s nasty smirk off of his face. He goes to fight back, but Dongyoung is too enraged to let Jaehyun get a chance to win one over him. He heavily underestimated Dongyoung’s ability to defend himself when Jaehyun finds himself pinned to the floor and Dongyoung getting in one last punch before he calls for the authorities. 

Within minutes, Jaehyun is in handcuffs being walked out of the banquet. They tried to get details of Jungwoo’s location out of him, but failed. Dongyoung calls Yuta, praying that he managed to get a tracker on Sicheng’s other phone that was used to text Jungwoo.

“You’re in luck Dongyoung, I managed to get through and pinpoint their exact location. They’re at a home near Jungwoo’s university.”

He thanks Yuta profusely for his help, he doesn’t want to think about what would have happened if they didn’t have Yuta’s help. 

With the exact address put into the GPS of his phone, Dongyoung sets off with the other policemen to rescue Jungwoo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to those of you that predicted the outcome last chapter, I am proud. :')


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not updating in a while, had to take a break for my mental health to improve. I'm a lot better now and here is chapter 12. A huge thanks to my beta reader, idk what I would do without their help thank you zoo :)
> 
> as always, the support from you all means so much to me, reading all the feedback makes me feel better when I'm having rough days. :)

When Jungwoo wakes up, he has no idea where he is. The room is a bit cold, and the concrete floor didn’t help at all. As his eyes adjusted to the dim room, Jungwoo realized that he was in the basement of some house, which did nothing to make him feel better. The last thing he remembers is being in the bathroom at the dinner, and then trying to escape from Sicheng after he stabbed him with a needle filled with who knows what. He doesn’t how he got here or how far away from home he was. There's a small window that looks toward the sidewalk and Jungwoo can assume that not too much time has passed since he last remembers anything because it’s still dark outside. 

Jungwoo hears someone coming down the stairs and he see’s Sicheng carefully making his way down. He notices that Jungwoo has woken up and looks a bit shocked at the fact, “I didn’t expect for you to wake up so fast...maybe I should’ve used a larger dosage? Anyways, don’t try to fight back. You’re at a clear disadvantage here when I’m the only one armed.” 

Well there goes Jungwoo’s first plan. Sicheng didn’t have him restrained in any way, which he had found odd at first considering that would be the first thing anyone did. If he says that he’s armed, Jungwoo doesn’t want to take his chances with that statement. He did want to get out of here as fast as possible, but he also wasn’t stupid. If he was going to get out of here he would have to try another way.

“Why are you doing this? How did you even know where I was? I thought that we were friends Sicheng!”

Sicheng’s face remains cold and neutral, “you’re not the only one that depends on a richer man for an income. I just provided a different service than you did.”

Jungwoo is still in shock, and stays silent. His mind slowly connecting the dots.

“Since I don’t know how long they’ll take to get here, I’ll just explain it to you. Yes, I am working for Jaehyun. He found me after the first day we went out to work for our project as I was on my way to my car. At first I thought he was some weird pervert just stalking me, so I was ready to deck him in the face if he got too close.”

“After he reassured me that he wasn’t going to kidnap me, he asked me if I was in need of some extra cash, and told me that he would pay me whatever the amount I wanted if I just did him a small favor. As a practically broke college student, who wouldn’t be interested in that? When he told me I had to stalk you and threaten you over text, I wasn’t too opposed to it. We hardly knew each other at the time and I kinda found you annoying. You’re always getting all the attention, everything’s always working out perfectly for you, and plus, you got the richest man in town paying for anything you want just because you’re a good fuck or something.”

Jungwoo’s blood begins to boil, “that is not what our relationship is like at all, and don’t assume things about my life like that. You don’t know half the shit I’ve gone through.”

“You’re right, and honestly I’m glad I don’t have to ever find out by continuing to pretend I give a fuck about you. Being your friend was so damn exhausting,” Sicheng bites back. 

Jungwoo feels betrayed. He feels stupid for thinking that Sicheng genuinely cared for him and saw him as a friend. He should have known better than to trust people so easily. “I saw you as a friend Sicheng. Why would you make me think of you this way if you were just going to screw me over like this?”

Sicheng laughs, “are you actually stupid? It’s easier to get information that’ll be useful to me if I pretended to like you. You wouldn’t tell people you hated the stuff you told me. By the way, you made it way too easy to put a tracker in your phone. You need to stop being so naive and thinking that people won’t tamper with you phone when you leave it out in the open on the table the way you did when you used the restroom.”

Jungwoo wants to stay strong, he doesn’t want to let Sicheng think that he had complete control over him; but this was all too much. Everything had been a lie. He had been taken advantage of, and now he didn’t know if he could trust anyone the way he trusted him ever again. Jungwoo starts to cry, he just wants to go home to Dongyoung and have everything be okay. 

Sicheng walks up to him and roughly grabs him by the chin to make him face him, “What are you crying for? I’ll give you something to actually cry about if you don’t stop. That is, if Jaehyun tells me to. He told me I can’t hurt you unless he says so. Who knows if you’ll make it out alive tonight?” he smiles so sweetly and it makes Jungwoo feel sick to his stomach. He doesn’t want to die. He can not die tonight, Dongyoung had to be on his way to save him right?

As if the universe had been listening to his pleas, there is loud banging heard upstairs. It sounds like someone was pounding on the front door, trying to break it down. Sicheng groans loudly, “Jaehyun’s a fucking idiot, now there’s people trying to ruin our fun time together.” He grabs Jungwoo by the arm and drags him up the stairs into the main hall of the house. 

Sicheng gets to the front door of the house and wraps one arm around Jungwoo’s neck and lets the door open. Immediately they see Dongyoung slam the door against the wall and run towards Jungwoo the second he spots him. However, before he can get his hands on him Sicheng brings a gun out from his back pocket and holds it up to Jungwoo’s throat. 

“You touch him, and I may or may not pull the trigger.” 

Jungwoo looks at Dongyoung with tears in his eyes, not saying anything but communicating with him through the fear in his eyes.

“Anyways, you’re supposed to be with Jaehyun, so why are you here?”

Dongyoung distances himself a bit from the two of them, not wanting to provoke Sicheng any further and therefore cause harm to Jungwoo. 

“Jaehyun’s in custody, I had security collect him right away. You’ve lost here. All there’s left for you to do is hand over Jungwoo and maybe they’ll lessen your sentence.”

“So I’m not going to get paid for this shit?” Sicheng tightens his hold on Jungwoo’s throat and he begins to panic as his airflow gets cut off slightly. 

“He can’t pay you if he’s in prison. The best thing for you right now is to walk out and turn yourself in. They’re all outside waiting for you.”

Sicheng grows silent. Jungwoo was hoping that he would finally let him go. He now no longer has a motive to continue this game.

“I’m irritated with this, I didn’t get to have as much fun as I wanted.” Sicheng pulls the trigger, and there is the loud noise of the gun going off followed by Jungwoo’s screams hitting the walls of the house.

But there is no blood.

Dongyoung recovers from the split second of panic he went through when Sicheng set off the gun. He was relieved to see that Jungwoo was not injured in any way, but the tears streaming down his face made him want to end this as soon as possible. 

Sicheng looks at the gun in confusion, checking to see what the issue was. While he was lost in his thoughts, he unconsciously loosened the grip he had around Jungwoo enough for him to be able to push himself away and run into Dongyoung’s arms.

From the outside they could here the authorities, running up the front door after hearing the gunshot. They began pooling in through the front door and had Sicheng cornered where he was.

When Sicheng saw that he was quickly losing this fight, he made a run for the back of the house in hopes of escaping the other way. However, he wasn’t able to get too far. Sicheng gets caught as he’s hopping the fence into his neighbor’s yard and taken into custody. 

Jungwoo is questioned by the police about what happened, and they check over his health to make sure that the tranquilizer Sicheng used on him didn’t have any other adverse effects. They also check the wound left behind by the gun when it was set off. Although the gun hadn’t been loaded, it had still left some damage behind. They patch him up quickly and Dongyoung comes in to hold him in his arms again, rubbing his back and pressing soft kisses across his face.

Then come in the police and the investigators. It takes hours for them to decide that they’ve gotten enough information from Jungwoo. The questions seem endless, they ask where he was at the time that he got stabbed with the tranquilizer, how he knew Sicheng, what had Sicheng done to him while he was held in the basement, and so on. Dongyoung notices that Jungwoo is falling asleep on his feet and asks the investigators if the information they received is sufficient because Jungwoo needs to go home and rest after everything that happened tonight. They all speak amongst themselves and decide to bid them farewell and thank them for the information. Dongyoung returns the thanks for helping finally get to the bottom of the whole situation. Jungwoo could now live in peace again.

At this point, Jungwoo doesn’t think he can walk another step from how tired he is. He makes grabby hands towards Dongyoung and lets himself be carried princess style to the car. 

It is nearly midnight when they finally make it home.

*****

Dongyoung carries Jungwoo into the house, he had fallen asleep during the drive home. He makes his way into the bedroom and sets Jungwoo down gently against across the sheets, brushing his hair back and making sure that he is in a comfortable position. Dongyoung walks into the on suite bathroom and begins to run a warm bath for the both of them. He would feel bad waking up Jungwoo, but he needed to get cleaned up. Jungwoo’s favorite candles were lit up and Dongyoung made sure to get the soap he liked as well. If he was going to have to wake him up, he would make sure to give him the most relaxing bath possible so it wouldn’t be too hard for him to fall back asleep again.

Dongyoung walks back into the bedroom after having set everything up for their bath. He sees that Jungwoo has shifted to cuddling one of the stray pillows that they forgot to fix in the morning. How far away that time seemed, a time where they didn’t experience something as traumatic as what happened tonight. 

He gently shakes Jungwoo’s shoulder, “come on baby, we need to wash up. I already have a hot bath running.”

Jungwoo groans as he wakes up. He moves around to lay on his back and raises both of his arms, “carry me Dongyoung.”

Dongyoung just smiles fondly at Jungwoo as he hooks his arm under his knees and uses the other arm to support his back. Jungwoo wraps his arms around his neck and leans his head down into the crook of Dongyoung’s neck. He carries him into the bathroom and helps Jungwoo get undressed before Dongyoung gets undressed himself. 

Jungwoo lets himself be taken care of by Dongyoung. He leans his head back when his hair is being washed and finds himself nearly dozing off when Dongyoung rubs his back. They spend more time than necessary, but neither of them complain. The warm water and the delicate smell of the candles making it very difficult for either of them to want to leave. Dongyoung presses kisses into the damp skin of Jungwoo’s shoulders, and he hears him sigh quietly. Jungwoo must be so relieved now that the culprits are in custody. 

The both of them are relatively quiet, finding comfort in the silence. When Dongyoung notices that Jungwoo is dozing off more frequently, he decides that the both of them should finally get out. He helps Jungwoo up and dries him off so that he can get dressed for bed. Dongyoung drains the bathtub and cleans up himself before joining Jungwoo in bed. The minute his body hits the sheets, he feels two arms wrapping around his waist and a head of slightly damp hair snuggling into his chest. 

Dongyoung thinks that Jungwoo has fallen asleep, until he feels his shoulders shaking. He uses one hand to hold Jungwoo’s chin up to face him, and there are the tear tracks staining his cheeks. 

“Are you okay Jungwoo?” he asks as he wipes away his tears with his thumb. “Yeah, I’m just really overwhelmed. I thought I was going to die back there. I thought that I would never see you again, and that scared me so much.” Jungwoo’s voice sounds so broken, so tired. It hurts Dongyoung’s heart to see Jungwoo so distressed, so he hugs him tighter. In a way that assures Jungwoo without words that he would never let him go. 

*****

The next few days are hectic for the both of them. Jungwoo stays at Dongyoung’s house a bit longer, it’s easier to avoid being in the spotlight too much if they’re being escorted by people that work for Dongyoung and know what they’re doing. The news stations immediately jumped onto Jaehyun’s arrest, producing several stories a day wondering what had happened to him to act out this way. Although Dongyoung had requested for privacy during this time that the both of them were recovering from what had happened, that didn’t stop everyone from constantly trying to approach them with questions. 

The positive thing that came out of this was the change in attitude towards their relationship into a more positive one. The articles questioning the motives behind either him or Dongyoung stop appearing and the media begins to be more supportive of the pair. The fact that it took a near death experience for this to happen was disappointing, but neither of them were surprised. The camera crews becoming less hostile with them was something that Jungwoo was thankful for, he didn’t know how he would be able to handle them now if they didn’t change their behavior.

It takes a few weeks for the hype around the story to die down, Dongyoung gave a small statement on the matter and stated that they would remain quiet on the issue and if they wanted any more information then they could find that with the police. He didn’t want them to be constantly reminding Jungwoo of the incident. 

To take it a step further, Dongyoung suggested that they go on a trip during Jungwoo’s winter break. Dongyoung explained to Jungwoo that he felt that they both deserved to get away for awhile. Jungwoo still doesn’t know where they are going exactly, Dongyoung insists on having it be a surprise. Mark and Lucas are jealous, since they have to stay home during the break. Jungwoo promises to bring something back for the both of them. 

It’s been nearly a month now since the incident, Jungwoo’s finals are coming up and he’s getting ready to lock himself up in his room and cram for days. He promised Dongyoung that it wouldn’t be a repeat of last time and he would actually listen to Mark this time when he tried to feed him. For the most part, Jungwoo felt that his life was getting back to normal, and he couldn’t be happier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter :) the next chapter will just be a pure fluff chapter for you all I promise!


End file.
